Career Opportunities
by Lawra
Summary: Ranma X Tenchi Muyo GXP crossover - Warning, might be offensive to Space Pirates
1. Enlistment

"Speech"

'Thought'

An idea spawned from another idea over at fukufics, the sister story to this is "Galaxy Police Cadet Scramble" by Gaming Ikari, the originator of the idea. (Story can be found in the Tenchi Muyo GXP crossover section) I'm purposely going to keep this story simpler than my other ones, especially No Need for Nerima. So if something is the same as canon, I'm purposely being lazy. This story is done just for fun, and as such can be put aside in favor of one of the others.

Ranma timeline is just after the start of the Hells Cradle arc, Book 21 or chapter 213 if you're reading online.

GXP timeline is at the very start.

Shampoo hovered over Cologne's shoulder. "What is it, Great-grandmother?"

"A bad omen, dear." She perused the letter carefully for the third time. "A very bad omen."

"Tell Shampoo. She tough amazon warrior, she can take it."

"No roles in this episode."

"Aiyah!"

X x x x x x

"Stupid old man." Ranma grumbled, pushing through a thick bush. Training for a duel with Genma was one thing, dealing with his old man stealing all his food, was another. So, Ranma had pulled a Ryoga, and headed cross country. Running across Japan had proven to be a grueling and difficult task, and he had actually lost track of time. So now he had to get back to town, and take a train all the way back to the Tendo Dojo in order to be there for the match.

His cross country trek didn't increase his skill, but then again, he was already better than his old man, and it was on the bald martial artist to get good enough to beat him. Glancing around the large clearing he had come into, it would have been a great place to train at. A lot of open space next to a lake, mountains all around, and the only thing stopping it from being perfect was the big house right on the lake.

Passing by the large house, on his direct path back to civilization, his eyes traced a bridge that cut across the lake at an angle from the attached deck of the home. Whoever lived here must have had a lot of cash to throw around, grimacing he wondered if they were as crazy as the other rich people that he knew.

Pausing, he heard the strangest noise, it was a incessent beeping that quickly grew in pitch and intesity. Being next to the lake, he saw small, then big waves start to crash against the shore. Cringing, he looked around, trying to find the source of the noise that had become a deafening buzz. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the sound vanished.

"That was－ weird."

Yelping in pain, a far louder, and more intense roaring noise ripped through the air. Overhead, the air distorted, and a steamline shape crashed into the lake like a meteor. "That's not fair at all." He complained, looking at the wall of water rapidly approaching him.

The next thing he knew, he was a she, and she was tumbling backwards end over end. With the energy from the wave spent, she slid to a stop on the wet grass, and laid looking up at the sky trying to stop the world from spinning. Struggling to right herself, feeling like a turtle with the big pack attached to her back, she got to her feet, and cringed. The lake had dropped a significant amount of water, which was now spread out on the grass around it. While the water was rapidly draining back into it's rightful place, it would be some time before it had returned to normal.

"I just know I'm going to get blamed for this." She groaned, pushing back her waterlogged bangs. "What's that?" She asked, looking at the strange depression in the water. There wasn't anything there, but the clear blue liquid was being displaced by something. Rubbing at her eyes, she wondered if that wave had knocked her loopy.

In the water, a woman with short blond hair burst through the surface, and took a gasping breath. A moment later, the head of a boy with short black hair was pulled above as well. "You alright?" She threw her pack on the less dock, and prepared to jump in and help.

"Here." The woman ducked under the water and lifted the boy up high enough for her to grab the back of his shirt, and pull him up on to the wood. Turning back to help the woman, she found that her help wasn't needed, as the blonde was able to jump from the water and land on the walkway. It wasn't like her to judge people based on their appearance, but blonde and blue eyes? 'Must be a foreigner.' She thought.

'A martial artist?' She thought, confused over the woman's mode of dress. The form fitting gray pants looked like they would move freely enough, and she knew that the blouse wouldn't limit her movement, since it looked painted on. It was made of transparent black material, covering all but her hands, the only thing keeping her modesty, were opaqe black rectangles over each breast. Gulping, she looked around, expecting Akane to show up at any moment.

Blinking several times, she watched as the woman quickly checked the boys vital signs, and then Ranma punched herself for not checking to see if the guy was breathing. "He alright?" She asked, trying to remember what you were supposed to do for CPR, and grimacing when she did.

The woman breathed out a sigh of relief, and replied. "Just a little waterlogged, say you weren't in that splash were you?" The blonde asked, looking Ranma up and down.

"Yea, what was that anyways?" Glancing around, she flicked her black pigtail from where it had fallen on her shoulder.

"And you weren't knocked out by the shockwave?"

"Nope." She shook her head.

"You don't live here do you?" The blond asked, eying her suspiciously.

"Just passing through." Stripping off her wet silk shirt, she wringed the excess water out of it. Picking at her white tanktop, she unstuck it from her skin.

"Hmm." The woman gave Ranma a very unnerving look, like she was analyzing him like a lab rat. "Do you know Tenchi-kun perhaps?"

"No, I'm just traveling." She answered, getting annoyed. 'Why is she so hung up on me living here?'

"You weren't injured at all, you must be pretty tough."

"I don't really have time for this kind of thing, do you know the people here?"

"Of course I know of them." The blonde answered cryptically.

Sighing, she rubbed at her temples. 'I don't have time for this, I have to get back to fight the old man.' Hopping to her feet, she put her shirt back on. "Listen, can you handle this? I got places to be."

"I think I'll be able to." Reaching behind her back, the woman pulled out a thin transparent gray folder with a opaque green line going across the top framed with a gold border, Galaxy Police spelled out in English letters, in the center. "Seems like you're pretty tough for an Earthling, fill this out, the GP is always looking for fresh recruits."

"Eh? GP?" Taking the offered sheet of what she thought was plastic.

"The pamphlet has all the information you'll need." The blonde smiled.

Finding a seam on the right side, she opened it up and found that there was indeed information inside of it. "What the?" Repeating the act of opening it several times, she found that the information inside seemed to disappear when closed, but magically appeared when opened. 'Least I got something to mess with Akane out of the trip.'

Shoving the strange plastic into her pack, she hefted the heavy bag, and replaced it in it's proper position. "Well if you got everything covered, I need to get going." The blonde woman kneeling in front of her, nodded.

"Good luck, hope to see you soon." The blonde waved childishly.

"Uh, right." She took a second to get her bearings before heading off away from the house, the thin folder already forgotten, as she tried to think up what devious and insane technique her old man would have thought up for this duel.

Behind Ranma, Amane Kaunaq watched the short black haired girl leave, absently stroking the spiky hair of the boy she had crashed into. The fact that neither were dead after receiving a shockwave capable of liquifying the internals of most Earth sentients was interesting enough for her to give them Galaxy Police applications.

"And this one is just so cute!" She squealed girlishly to herself.

X x x x x x

The next morning

"Stupid old man." Ranma groaned, laying face first on his futon. Having been up all night fighting his father, he was in no mood, or condition to go to school. Hell, he wasn't even able to change out of his gi before he collapsed.

"Ranma." Akane said neutrally from the door, and he turned his head to see dressed in her school uniform, depositing a plate of food at his side. "Eat up before it gets cold."

Eying the food, he wasn't sure what it was. "Did you make it?" He asked, cause that would be just a perfect way to start the day, the rat poison she called food.

Akane's face turned an angry shade of red at his question. "For your information, Kasumi made it." Spinning on her heel, the youngest Tendo headed out of the room.

"Good, I feel sick enough as it is." Shivering in disgust, Genma had hugged him no less then seventeen times last night, the old man's entire training had been for one move, a simple hug, like a panda playing with a tire. Which in retrospect he should have figured out from when he saw Genma doing just that.

Slowly eating the food, his energy returning with the meal, he noticed his pack tipped over from where he had dropped it off earlier, spilling some of the contents. He had been too busy before to bother cleaning it up, but now he could clearly see the strange folder he had been given earlier in the day. Snaking over his free hand, he dragged it close to him, and flipped it open.

On the left page were some interesting three dimensional art for space ships and space stations. A shot of some strange island, and a cheaply drawn picture of a woman in some kind of blue and orange uniform. Printed on the other page was some kind of disclaimer over top a blue star logo, GP printed in big English letters over top of it.

"What is this, some kind of contest?" He asked himself, trying to find more pages, and seeing none. "Why would that lady give me this?" There was a place to write down his name, age, homeworld, and a fingerprint. "And where am I supposed to even turn it in? Did she expect me to go all the way back to Okayama?"

Giving up on those kinds of details, he decided to just read the actual thing. From the way the pamphlet described the Galaxy Police, they were literally that, some kind of galaxy wide police force. Which made absolutely no sense to him, as far as he knew, the only people in space were up in one or two space stations. Definitely not enough to warrant a police force. 'Guess it must be some sort of anime themed thing.

Tapping his finger repeatedly on the pamphlet he really wished that if they were going to do some strange contest, that they do it for a series more widespread. Freezing, he watched a pen rise up from the far right side of the plastic, into a vertical position. "That's kind of weird." Slowly picking it up, he figured what would be the harm in filling it out?

"Name, Saotome Ranma. Age, sixteen. Homeworld, Earth." Spinning the pen with his fingers, he wondered how he could put a finger print down. "Why do they even need a fingerprint for a contest?" Getting an idea, he hastily scribbled with the pen on his thumb, covering it with ink. "Ha!" The print wasn't perfect, but what did he care? Replacing the pen and closing up the folder, he threw it back on to his pack, and pulled the covers over himself, resolving to find out where to send it after he got some rest.

X x x x x x

Ranma squeezed his eyes shut tighter, trying to ignore the feminine snickering, and tv playing. Shifting, he pulled his blanket tighter around his body, attempting to ignore the annoyance to his sleep. Catching a strange scent, he took several more sniffs, identifying the smell as some softly feminine perfume. 'Okay that's different.' Slowly opening his eyes, he found himself face to face with the pink drape of a kotatsu. Behind him was the television, and in front of him was the female who was trying not to laugh.

'Weirder and weirder.' He thought, sitting up. The room he was in, had so many bright colors that he thought he was going to go blind. Everything was horribly messy, books, food, pillows, stuffed animals, all were thrown around haphazardly.

Across the table from him was a tall blonde woman, with her hair pulled up into a poofy ponytail, the bright color contrasting with her dark tan, and bright blue eyes. She was wearing tight blue pants like that one woman he had met the day before, along with a set of suspenders. Except her shirt was just a dark green, and thankfully wasn't see through.

"Oh hello, did I wake you?" She asked.

"Uh." Blinking several times, this was a first for him. "Where am I?" No wait, this was the second, that one tea ceremony jerk had kidnapped him before. Least I didn't wake up in a wedding kimono this time.

"Oh no!" The woman scrambled to put on what Ranma thought was the jacket to a military uniform, she continued to fall over herself in an attempt to get it on as quick as possible. Ending up looking like a three year old had done it. "Is it on straight?" She asked suddenly.

"Not really." He scratched the side of his head, causing her to fumble blindly with the buttons.

"Now?" She asked hopefully.

"The top three are off." He pointed out, trying to remember if he had ever seen a uniform like that before. It was one jacket, but colored like a there was a vest over top of a long sleeve shirt. The vest portion a baby blue color, the arms divided into black and gray on the top and underside. Across the left breast were two horizontal lines, the top one black and bottom white, with a small patch of gold close to the arm.

"Thanks." She finally fixed her jacket, and shoved her mass of hair underneath a tall round hat. Clicking her heels together, she saluted him. "I am Detective First Class Kuramitsu Mihoshi, congratulations on entering the GP Academy!"

"GP Academy?" He asked, taking another look around the room. 'Am I in hell?'

"Er." The woman rummaged through a stack of papers, spilling them all over the floor, and retrieving the pamphlet that he had filled out. "You filled out the application right?" She asked, flipping the folder open.

"I thought it was some anime contest."

"Then there's no problem, you enlisted!" Dropping to her knees, the woman pushed the folder towards him across the table. "See, even has your thumbprint."

"But." Gulping, he took several deep breaths. "What is the GP?"

"You don't know?" The girl leaned back, putting a finger to her lips and looking away absently. "But everything was explained in the pamphlet."

"Wait wait wait wait, you mean I joined up with some space police thing?" He laughed nervously. "That stuff was all true?"

"Uh huh." Mihoshi nodded quickly.

"Haha, yea right."

"But－ it's true." Mihoshi hopped around the table and pulled him over to a normal looking window and hit a button on the side, causing the view out of a window into a clearing, to change into a vast expanse of darkness broken up by stars. "See, it's the galaxy!" She said dramatically.

"Nice TV, but I'll be going." Leaving the room, he stopped in the hallway, finding it to be a metallic blue cooridor. "Weird building." He commented, rapping his knuckles against the metal wall.

"I know! Let's go see Yukinojo!" Mihoshi suddenly grabbed his arm in a vice like grip and dragged him down the hallway. Allowing himself to be lead, Ranma was starting to wonder about this whole thing. At the very end of the hallway, a door slid open with a soft woosh, allowing them to enter a half oval room. In the center was a tall blue chair with silver base, spread out in a half circle from the chair was a control panel.

"Yukinojo!" The blonde called, causing a domed robotic head to descend from the ceiling over top the control panel.

"Yes Mihoshi-dono?" The robot head asked, a pair of round eyes surveying the room, and landing on Ranma. The arm connected to the head extended, swiveling to let the face look at him as if it were a person. "Good day, I am Yukinojo, while aboard, if you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Yukinojo, can you tell her that the Galaxy Police exists, she doesn't believe me."

"Well of course the Galaxy Police exists, you are currently aboard the shuttle for the Galaxy Police vessel Yagami. Our flight path will intercept the transport ship 842-9 in two hours. Our mission is the transport of Galaxy Police recruit Saotome Ranma from Colonial Planet No. 0315, to the rendezvous point."

"Okay, so you got a neat robot. But they have those on Earth. Really if you're going to try and impress me, you should pick something better." He waved off the robot show, looking at a tv built into the wall, and all the stars that were flying by at high speed. 'This does look kind of high tech.' He admitted to himself. 'The three-d stuff is really good.'

"Oh and gravity! If we were in space we'd be floating since there aint no gravity in space." Feeling smug about deducing his way out of the woman's joke, his opinion reversed when she hit a button. "Ahh!" Screaming, he flailed his arms in a desperate attempt to menuever himself as he floated away from the floor. "I believe you I believe you!" He repeated, bouncing off the back wall and heading towards the front.

"Yay!" Mihoshi exclaimed happily, floated as well. "Oh." She mouthed, seeming to realize something.

"Gimme back gravity!" He yelled, trying to swim through the air.

"But I can't reach the button." She admitted, pointing towards the control panel.

"You－ can't reach－ the button?" He asked slowly.

"Yukinojo, can you fix it?" The blonde asked.

"Yes Mihoshi-dono." The exasperated robotic head sighed, and without warning gravity kicked in, plunging them both face first into the floor.

X x x x x x

Checking to make sure his uniform was properly in place, Captain Kenichi waited for the airlock door to open, allowing their second passanger from Earth onboard. They had waited before going into hyperspace jump so that the shuttle could catch up. But once their passanger was on board, they could make it to the immigration station within two hours.

When the air lock door slid open, he was prepared to make a nice orderly transfer, and continue on with his mission. Unfortunately, the short black haired girl in damp white clothing, that shot through the door and ducked behind him, worried him greatly.

"Quickclosethedoordon'tletheronwhateveryoudodon'tlethertouchanything!" She screamed rapidly, her speech shifting into manic jibberish.

"Ranma-chan! I got hot water for you!" The GP officer in charge of bringing the new recruit to his ship stepped through the door with a thermos in her hands, her happy smile turning to confusion, and finally back to smile. "Oh, hello, Detective First Class Kuramitsu Mihoshi, transporting recruit Saotome Ranma." She dropped the thermos, spilling water all over the floor, and saluted him.

"Ahhh! You let her on!" The girl behind him cried out hopelessly.

Ignoring the child, he returned the salute. "Captain Mitsutoshi, accepting recruit Saotome." Glancing back at the girl who was now curled up in a fetal position against the wall, he grimaced. "Did anything happen that I should be informed of?"

"No, I don't think so." Mihoshi answered, looking away absently.

"Right." He grimaced again, Mihoshi's eccentricies were well known, he was just sad that such a treatment was this poor girl's first introduction to the Galaxy Police.

"Oh! I should get going, Tenchi-san said that he was going to cook nabe tonight!" Skipping through the door, Mihoshi froze mid step, and spun back and saluted him. Saluting back, the air lock door closed.

"Are you alright, Miss?" He asked, checking to see that the girl had visibly relaxed.

"She's gone right? Not going to come back?" The Earthlings eyes darted quickly between the door and him. Nodding, he considered briefly asking what had happened, but then he remembered the key thing to do whenever Mihoshi was involved. 'Don't ask questions.'

"I'm very sorry, Mihoshi-san can be－ difficult." Extending a hand, he set about undoing the damage that the granddaughter of the Grand Marshal had done. "Welcome to the GP."

X x x x x x

Ranma stood up without the help of the black skinned man, and cast a weary look at the door. There were only a small amount of people that she was, wary of, and Mihoshi now sat firmly on top of that list. Significantly calmed down now that the crazy blonde was safely gone, she took stock of her new location.

"Would you like to dry off?" The guy asked.

"Nah I'm fine, I'm kind of used to being wet." Ranma fixed her gi, the top having become twisted in her mad dash to keep herself away from Mihoshi.

"I see, well if you'll come this way, we can go to the bridge. Now that you're aboard, we can hyperspace jump." The Captain pointed down the hall with a hand.

"Hyper-space jump?" She asked, walking with the man down the hall. This whole thing was a bit overwhelming, and she would have appreciated a little bit of a lead up to this. Seriously, going to sleep and waking up on a psychopath's space ship on the way to join some galaxy police force? Just didn't expect that.

"Uh, well without going into the technical details, it's currently the fastest way to travel in space. If you know the speed of light, then this is many times faster than that. It's the technology that made space travel possible."

"Okay." She said slowly. 'How fast is light again?'

Through a doorway, they entered into a half circle room, the curved wall was fully transparent, showing the vast expanse of space outside. In the front of the cockpit where three chairs, manned by a trio of boys not much older than her. The one on the far left was tall and skinny, middle was short, and the right was heavy set. In the back of the cabin were three more chairs, a center one that she figured must be for the captain, since it was raised up and had an ornate design. The actual chairs themselves weren't that futuristic, looking more like office chairs.

Sitting in the chair in the back right, was a boy about her age, in a pink tshirt and blue jeans. Hearing them enter, the occupants of the room turned to look backwards. Ranma could almost see hearts appear in the eyes of the trio manning the forward chairs.

"Not now." The Captain coughed into his hands, and the trio hastily spun back around to the front.

"Saotome Ranma, please meet Yamada Seina, the other recruit."

Standing up in a quick motion, the boy now identified as Seina bowed deeply to her. "It's nice to meet you."

"Yea nice to meet you." She gave the boy a polite bow.

"If you would please take the other seat." The Captain indicated the seat in the back left.

"Sure." She nodded, dropping herself in the chair, and finding it more comfortable than it appeared.

Watching the three in front work, she was a little shellshocked over the expeirence so far. Here she was in space, aboard a ship on the way to another planet. That pretty much topped everything she had done in her life, Jusenkyo included. 'I guess I'm farther away from Earth than any other human. Ha ha! Isn't everyone back in Nerima going to be surprised when I tell them.'

"Coordinates set, point G26, 380, N171." The heavy set guy in front explained, his fingers rapidly typing on a half circle control panel wrapped around him. "Commencing hyperspace jump in ten seconds." As the boy counted down to zero, Ranma was confused over what was going to happen. The boy in the pink shirt looked overly excited, while everyone else looked bored with the event.

"Hmm, such soft hair." A sweet feminine voice spoke from behind Ranma. Blinking several times, she felt someone gently running their hands through her hair.

"Ya mind not－" She trailed off, turning to face the person petting her. "AHH!" She screamed, and shot across the cockpit to slam into the front window, pressing herself flat against it. "Mi-Mi-Mihoshi!" She stammered.

Standing next to her former chair, was a woman who, now that she got a good look, was not Mihoshi. She was wearing a blue and white uniform, the white portion mimicing an apron. That said, there was a strong resemblance to the insane Detective Ranma had been forced to deal with for the past two hours.

"Hello." The woman greeted. "I'm Kuramitsu Mitoto, it's nice to meet you." Mitoto finished, smiling sweetly.

Seeing the strange looks directed at her, Ranma laughed nervously, and hopped down from the controls. "Sorry." She apologized.

"I'm Barry." The tall red haired guy at the front controls held out a hand to shake. "Doing anything later?"

"Alan." The short one extended his hand.

"Cohen." The fat one did the same as the other two.

Ranma's left eyebrow twitched violently, noticing that all three of the boy's eyes were firmly locked on to her bust. "Not interested." She got out thorugh gritted teeth.

"Ah!" The boy in the pink shirt yelled. "What about warp?"

"We already started." The Captain answered.

"But－." Seina protested.

"You heard the countdown didn't you?" The Captain seemed somewhat amused by the questioning.

"Shouldn't there be a big shock wave or something?" Seina waved his hands around tring to emphasize his point, to which Ranma tuned out the other Earthling, in order to brush away Mitoto's hand.

"Could you not do that?" She grumbled, unsure on who this Mitoto was, and until she figured out how things worked, she wasn't about to start a big fight with the only people she knew could get her back home.

"Hmm hm." The woman nodded, and went right back to playing with Ranma's hair.

"Fine." Ranma bowed her head. 'Better than Nabiki feeling me up I guess.' Glancing at the smiling woman, she couldn't help but see Mihoshi overlaid on top. "You're not related to Mihoshi are you?"

"Of course, I'm her mother."

Ranma slumped down in her chair like the puppet who's strings had been cut. 'What did I do to deserve this?' She lamented. 'Was it beating up my old man? Making fun of Akane all the time? Ryoga and Kuno being right about me? Nooo, now I'm just being stupid.'

The ship suddenly lurched forward, causing Ranma to slide from her chair and land on her butt. Seina who had gotten out of his seat was thrown backwards, hitting something on the Captains control panel on the way, and Mitoto nearly fell on Ranma, but recovered in time. Over a speaker system an alarm sound started to blare loudly.

"Status, what's going on?" The Captain ordered.

"Energy signature detected in the same space!" Alan answered.

"Judging from the energy output, it apears to be a large warship." Barry added.

"Emergency retreat!" The Captain ordered again, and the ship did a small lurch again after being brought out of it's jump. Ranma quickly got back up into her seat, and scanned the space in front of the ship for any sign of this warship.

"There's nothing to worry about." Mitoto instructed calmly. "This kind of thing happens all the time."

"But Mitoto-san, the probability of a near miss out here is less than a trillion to one!" The Captain brought up.

"Then we hit the jackpot!" Mitoto dismissed the concern over the rarity of the situation.

"What is our current position and damage status?" The Captain questioned.

"We're far off course, the cell section has been slightly damage, but we can still get back on course." Cohen answered, reading a flat computer screen that had popped up in front of him.

"I see, in that case, why don't you two go to the crew cabin." The Captain indicated Ranma and Seina, sitting back calmly in his chair. "It will take some time for repairs to be done, but there's nothing to worry about. Get some rest or contact your families if you wish."

"You can do that from here?" Ranma asked, taking a moment to rub her backside.

"Mitoto-san, would you mind showing her?" The Captain asked.

"Of course, this way." The blonde smiled innocently and Ranma followed the tall woman back down the hallway, Seina following obediently.

"Is this really a space ship?" Ranma wondered to herself, entering into a room that vaguely reminded her of an average Japanese room. Then again, there was that room on Mihoshi's shuttle that looked like it belonged on a planet too. Nothing was really matching up with whatever ideas she had formed in her head before on what a space ship would look like.

"Crews serving on ships regularly spend weeks or months in space, the ship designs usually reflect a terrestrial design so that they feel more at home." Mitoto explained. "You can contact the Earth with this." She pointed towards a black rotary phone with a GP logo at the center of the rotary.

"That can phone the Earth?" She asked dubiously.

"Hmm hm, you can even see the person on the other end. Though there aren't any viewscreens on Earth, so they won't be able to see you." Mitoto explained like she was talking to a child. "Oh and you have to dial the planet number before the phone number. Earth's is 4989."

"Like an area code." Seina noted as Ranma plopped down on the floor in front of the phone.

"Aw crap, I forgot the number." Ranma groaned, she had never had a reason to actually call the Tendo house before.

"We have a number on file for you." Mitoto used her index finger to push a button on her wrist, causing a small viewscreen to pop up next to the botton. "81-3-3933-3250."

"Doesn't really sound right." Shrugging, she picked up the headset, a viewscreen about sixty five centimeters in diamter popped up in front of her. Taking a moment to marvel at the strange technology, she entered in the numbers, wasn't like she had much else to go off of.

"This cabin has two rooms, feel free to make yourself at home while here, I'll be on the bridge if you need anything." Mitoto exited the room through the doorway, the white door sliding to the side, allowing her to pass.

"I'll give you some privacy." Seina wandered off, ducking into a room on the opposite side from the phone.

The screen that had been previously displaying a blank green image, suddenly shifted to that of a dark haired woman in a kimono as she answered a phone. "Hello, Saotome residence." The woman greeted.

"Saotome?" Ranma asked.

"Yes, this is Nodoka, is there something I could do for you?"

"Er, I was trying to reach Saotome Genma, I must have the wrong number."

"My husband?" Nodoka asked hopefully. "Does that mean you know Ranma?"

"I am Ranma." She scratched at her head. This woman was married to her old man? No way, she was way too pretty to bother with an ugly glutton like Genma.

"Ranma it's so nice to hear you're voice after all these years, though it does sound a little high, but that hardly matters, how is the Galaxy Police treating you? That nice Mihoshi girl stopped by early this morning to ask for permision if you could join."

"Eh?" Ranma asked dumbly.

"Oh yes, she was most explicit that since you were a minor you couldn't enlist without parental permission. I'm sure you're being very manly out there in space." Nodoka boasted.

'Oh man that monster went to the wrong house, and got some crazy ladies permission to abduct me.' Ranma stared at the screen, trying to come up with a way to get into contact with Genma. "You don't happen to have the number for the Tendo Dojo in Nerima do you?" She would call there, and hopefully get the information from her old man.

"Is that where your father is? Mihoshi-chan said she tried to track him down but only found a panda." Nodoka dragged out a thick phone book from under the table her phone was on. "Just a moment, ah here it is, 3-3933-1352."

"Thanks." Ranma committed the number to memory. "Well bye then." She went to put down the receiver.

"Wait, Ranma, there's so many things I want to ask." Nodoka's message was cut off, the ship vibrating from some unknown impact, and the same alarm from earlier playing over unseen speakers.

"Level 1 emergency alert is in effect." A male voice said over the alarm. "As a result, this call has been disconnected. Note that no calls will be allowed until the emergency alert is over." The message then repeated itself.

"What's happening?" Ranma happened to glance out a window to her left, a lance of purple light shooting by and hitting the side of the ship, making the room lurch. "That can't be good."

X x x x x x

"Enemy vessel approaching, they're pursuing."

Kenichi quickly looked at the readouts that were displayed in front of him. He wasn't trained for this, transporting cargo was all he did, dealing with pirates was beyond him, and the abilities of his ship. They hadn't even completed repairs for the damage that they had incurred by exiting a jump early.

"Shall we surrender?" Mitoto asked casually.

"No, things would get complicated if the pirates found out that you were on board." He replied, thinking of how the pirates would likely hold them all for ransom, rather than simply taking their cargo.

"Distance to enemy vessel at 6800 kilometers." Alan warned.

"Reroute all auxiliary power to the main systems." Mitoto took charge in her own quiet way. He allowed it because she outranked him, and frankly would likely have a better grip on how to handle the situation.

"If we do that we'll be without our weapons system." He pointed out.

"Even with the weapons, we wouldn't stand a chance in a fight. Our only option is to run away." Mitoto smiled happily.

He started to form a protest, this was one of the finest and newest Galaxy Police ships, but it was primarily a transport vessel. The only weapons they had were purely defensive, and wouldn't stand up to anything pas a small fighter ship. "Right."

"Rerouting power to the forward shields in preparation for the energy net." Cohen announced.

"Hey what's going on?" Ranma questioned, coming through the door with Seina following with far less confidence.

"Pirates are firing warning shots at us." He answered.

"Pirates? Pirates in space?" Seina asked worriedly.

"They're the very reason that the Galaxy Police exists." He started, trying to impress upon his young charges how great the GP was.

"But we can only run away for now." Mitoto broke in sweetly.

"Conduction circuits 303 and 448 are damaged, auxiliary engine power is－ Ah! Our communication system's are on!" Barry turned and called back to him.

"Oh my! They've been listening to us this whole time? I hope I didn't say anything silly, did I Pirate-san?" Mitoto observed, and he looked down at his control panel, seeing that Seina in his fall earlier had activated their communications. 'How did I miss that?' Deactivating them, he would have to omitt than from his action report.

"You two should sit down." He advised the recruits, hitting several keys to form another chair directly in front of him.

"Energy detected directly ahead!" Barry drew his attention, and in their path spreading out from a central point, was a net made up of hexagonal rings. "Energy net has opened directly in front of us."

"Steer around it." He ordered, bringing up a display that showed the nets location, and his ship's.

"We've successfully cleared the net!" Unfortunately as soon as that was announced, three more energy nets opened up, two closer on either side, forcing them towards the last one further back. "More energy nets have appeared, decreasing speed." Narrowing his eyes, he knew what they were doing. The pirates were trying to force him to use up his fuel menuevering in real space.

"Energy signal coming from the ship behind us. There are three level 2 energy signatures. The pirates are closing in." Cohen warned.

"Brace for impact." Barry said, just as three impacts struck the back of the ships. "Hits confirmed! We have rats onboard!"

"On screen." He commanded, and a viewscreen loaded up in front, showing the tiny ball like rats as they began to move through the ship. "Traps on!"

Pulling from the walls were the traps, transparent cube devices that would capture the rats and destroy them. Oh how he hated when rats got on the ship, the small devices would disable systems, leaving a ship helpless.

"Rats have penetrated Block 5. They're too fast for the traps, must be a new model." Alan commented, the ship dodging the last energy net by going vertically over top of it's position.

"Block 2 and 3 have been taken, they're heading for the bridge." Cohen rapidly hit several controls trying to stop the rats.

"That's fine, we have the new program, it should be capturing them soon enough." He was getting nervous over the speed that the rats had moved, but he wasn't about to let it show.

"Oh? Do we have Movement Predictor Program Version 9.2?" Mitoto asked.

"That's three versions old." He answered.

"But it executes more quickly, please try it." Mitoto advised.

"Right." Loading up the program, there was a noticable difference, as the number of rats quickly decreased.

"They've gotten conduction circuits 3 and 5! But the rat exterimation has completed." Barry called back to him.

"Engine power decreasing!" Alan warned. "120, 100 and dropping! The enemy ship is closing!"

Sighing, there was only one option left for him. "This could be a dangerous meneuver." He informed Mitoto, the last thing he wanted to do was to get the Grand Marshall after him, if his daughter was hurt in anyway.

"We don't have any choice do we?" Mitoto replied, knowing his intent.

"Huh? What are you going to do?" Ranma asked.

"Prepare for random jump!" He ordered, causing all three of his crew to turn around, and look at him. Random jumps could lead them anywhere, including through and into objects, they were incredibly dangerous without a random generator algorithm to check the possible variables.

"Fill Corridor 3 with crystal gel, we can use it as an energy bypass." Mitoto explained before he could. The rats had crippled the connections between systems, not the systems themselves. Pirates wanted an intact and easily repairable ship.

"Understood." Alan confirmed, quickly completing the command. "Engine power rising, we can go at any time."

"Enemy ship is still closing." Barry warned. "Cannon fire detected."

"Alright, initiate random jump." With his command, the stars in the viewing window blurred towards his ship, indicating that they had entered warp.

Several seconds later, the stars returned to normal. "Random jump complete." Alan reported.

"Determine present position of pirates." He ordered.

"Wait! Energy signature detected!" Cohen stopped his order from being completed. "The pirate ship has exited a hyperspace jump!" A viewscreen showing the pirate ship popped up.

"Jump again!" He commanded. The result was the same, as soon as they had returned to normal flight, the pirates appeared behind them. "I haven't been trained to make these kinds of menuevers." He groaned. "It's too easy for them to predict our course." The pirates likely had a random jump predictor, which would take in the different possible safe jumps, and predict the one his ship would take.

"Setting random courses does require specialized training." Mitoto noted.

"What do we do then?" Seina asked.

"Fight hand to hand?" Ranma added, looking more excited than she should be at the prospect.

"That's it, why don't we let one of them set our course?" Mitoto suggested.

"Good thinking! They're novices, and from a planet without hyperspace drives. Anything they enter will be random because they don't know any better!"

X x x x x x

"Uh." Ranma gave the transparent black keyboard that appeared just over top her thighs a confused glance. Funnily enough, aside from the floating and see through nature of the keyboard, it looked just like every other one she had seen on Earth. "Do what with the what now?"

"Just pick four random numbers." Mitoto answered.

"You should do it." Seina glanced around nervously. "If I did it, things would only get worse. My luck is terrible."

"I guess." Tentatively touching the keyboard, she found that while it was see through, it was firm to the touch. Rapidly hitting in some numbers, she hit enter, and the ship entered another hyperspace jump. 'Heh this is kind of fun.' Unfortunately when they came out the other side, they were heading directly for the teal side of a large ships hull.

"Evasive menuevers!" The Captain shouted, and their nose tipped upwards sharply, allowing them to avoid collission with the larger vessel.

"Energy signature detected, it's the first pirate ship!" The short boy at the front exclaimed.

"Enter in more numbers." The Captain begged.

"Alright alright." Running her hand through her bangs once, she typed in some more random numbers, the ship entering into another jump as soon as she hit enter.

"Second jump complete." Barry reported.

"It happened again!" The Captain held his face in his hands. Ahead of them were now two more ships.

"I think you should do it." Ranma pointed at Seina, the two ships in front of their own turning towards them. The apparently pirate ships didn't look all that dangerous, having two long arm like protrusions from a single submarine like body holding them together. Lacking visible guns, Ranma failed to see how they could cause them harm past colliding together. When the two arm like shapes extended out, segmenting into joins, the front turning into giant claws, Ranma resigned herself to not assume things again.

"I guess." Seina hit several numbers, the ship making another jump. The result was less than desirable, since they appeard in front of a dozen space ships. "Are those more pirate ships?" Seina asked.

"Hurry and jump again!" The Captain panicked.

Three more jumps later, Ranma joined the Captain in holding her face in her hands. Trailing them now were dozens, if not hundreds of pirate ships. 'Maybe I was better off with Mihoshi.' An explosion from the back of the ship, made Ranma have to grab the arms of her chair to stop from being thrown out.

"We've lost all power to the engines!" Alan yelled from the front. "We can't make anymore random jumps."

"Gravity waves detected, it's the previous ships!" Barry shouted.

"What is wrong with you?" Ranma screamed at Seina, the mass of ships appearing in space around them.

"I said I was unlucky!" Seina cringed.

"Oh my, this is bad." Mitoto summed up the situation.

"Enemy ships are approaching." Cohen informed, three viewscreens popping up, displaying three pirate ships, as they grabbled onto their own with various arms. "It's no use, we've been caught."

"What do we do now?" Ranma asked, feeling even more helpless than when she had been under the weakness moxibustion. "I thought you guys were some police force, can't you call someone to help?"

"Communications were disabled earlier, but don't worry, it will work out." Mitoto answered calmly, the ship they were in suddenly shaking. "See, they're fighting amongst themselves."

"Full speed ahead." The Captain ordered.

"But sir! The engines have been too badly damaged." Barry shouted back, their ship having only moved by bouncing off one of the ships that had grabbed them.

In the front of the cockpit, a tall skinny viewscreen appeared from the floor to the sealing, showing a gradient bar with all the colors. "Massive energy field detected!" Cohen yelled. "It's a Jurai ship!"

"Get me a visual." The Captain called over Ranma's head to the front.

Ranma gaped at the viewscreen the popped up, filling the entire width of the cabin, and showing off a line of bright green light. Spreading out across the wall of pirate ships, the light wavered as the vacuum itself was buffeted and warped by the power splitting space. Rising up from the light was a strangely shaped tan ship, made of a large horizontal ring, and a second smaller ring angled forward inside of it. In the front center of the large ring, was another structure shaped like the head of a whale, underneath the front structure was a downward facing fin shape, made up of four flat fingers..

"Oh, isn't that the Mikagami?" Mitoto noted.

"Water reflection?" Ranma asked herself, the space inside of the off kilter ring suddenly rippled as if sensing her question. "Does that mean we're saved from him." Ranma pointed to Seina, earning a nod from Mitoto, and a sweat drop from Seina.

"The Mikagami is hailing all ships in the vicinity." Cohen reported.

"Attention all ships. I, Kamiki Seto Jurai, hereby declare you all under arrest for acts of piracy." A woman's voice played over a speaker, and Seina repeated the name, just as much in awe as her by the power being displayed, even if they didn't know what was going on.

"It's the Devil princess of Jurai." The Captain wasn't in awe, instead he sounded just as nervous as if it was another pirate ship.

"Devil Princess?" Ranma asked curiously. "What'd she do to earn that nickname?"

"Uh, um, please pretend you didn't hear that." The Captain answered nervously.

"Is she really scary?" Seina pressed.

"Er, you don't know anything about Jurai ,do you?" The nervousness of the Captain went up a notch, and Ranma frowned. 'What kind of man is this guy, and why do they let him run a space ship?'

"Ya think?" She asked.

Laughing nervously several times the dark skinned man continued. "She's a powerful political figure, who belongs to the nation with the greatest military power in the galaxy, perhaps even the universe."

"She's a very delightful person!" Mitoto contrasted the Captain.

"You're the only one able to say that Mitoto-sama." The man sad down heavily in his chair.

"Sir, the Mikagami is hailing us." Cohen stopped their talk, another viewscreen popping up a moment later.

In the viewscreen was a woman in her early twenties with bright green hair, wearing a off white kimono with a navy smock over top of it. Across the horizontal part of the frock, was an oval band of purple with two yellow buttons on each end. Hanging from the right button was a small vertical piece of blue fabric, ending in a band of orange on the bottom. She adjusted her small rectangular glasses before addressing them. (1)

"Galaxy Police transport 842-9, Seto-sama wishes for you to remain in position while the area is secured by the 7th Juraian Armada. Once done, we'll have repairs done to your ship."

"Thank you, both our engines and long range communications have been damaged, would you be so kind as to inform Aira-sama that we'll arrive late? We are transporting two recruits and they are expected." Mitoto explained.

"Yes of course, we'll relay your message right away, a crew will be over shortly to begin repairs." Bowing her head politely, the viewscreen blipped out of existence.

X x x x x x

Author Notes :

Credit for the little back and forth banter between Shampoo and Cologne goes to Philip Weigel aka Nanya.

(1) – The same kind of smock that Nodoka regularly wears to protect her clothing, although they are usually modified to have short arms, and only cover to about mid thigh in the Jurai variant. The other change is that they open up in front, rather than the back.

kotatsu – low table with a heater underneath and a curtain around the edge.

I prefer to use Japanese honorifics, simply for their versatility, and social connotations. If you don't know go do a web search for just that, the wiki article is decent enough.


	2. Opening Move

"Speech"

'Thought'

X x x x x x

Kamiki Seto Jurai smiled, a viewscreen displaying the two Earthlings as they were brought on board the Mikagami. Obviously both were examining their surroundings with a certain amount of awe, the expected reaction. Resting casually on her wide command chair, she was perfectly happy to watch through a viewscreen.

"The bringing of a pureblooded Earthling aboard maybe forbidden, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened before. Regardless of the clerical mistakes that were made, their enrollment application has been officially accepted. The rest, is up to them." Fanning herself briefly, she split her attention between the two, the male attempting to call his home. "Though I can't imagine a teenager ever passing up a chance like this."

"But Seto-sama." Kiriko protested, her face displayed on a large viewscreen. Seto's great grand daughter having attempted to persuade her to turn Seina back to Earth.

"Bye." She waved, the connection being cut, and switching back to a description of Seina. "Yamada Seina-kun, to think Kiriko-chan was seeing a boy like you." Her two attendants in front of her slumped forward in defeat, realizing where her mind was drifting. 'Weaklings.'

"I've heard about Seina-kun from my father." Minaho drew her attention. "He's a friend of Kai-kun and a bit on the unlucky side."

"A bit?" She asked. "Judging from how those pirate ships were gathered by this pair, I would say they are more than a bit unlucky." Smiling, she started to form a plan in her mind. "No, I believe that this was an act of good luck. The odds of a single pureblooded Earthling making it into space are virtually nil. For two? I think even Washu-chan would have trouble calculating that."

Hirata, her male aid was whispering something to Minaho, and Seto frowned at this talk behind her back. "What are you two whispering about now?" She asked loudly, the pair straightened up, and tried to look like they were innocent.

"Wow, what a day today has been!" Hirata laughed nervously. "Who would have thought that Mitoto-sama was aboard that ship as well?"

"I thought I had heard she was in charge of cleaning at the GP headquarters." Minaho added to complete the subterfuge.

"Seto-sama." Suiren, one of the four girls she had working to run the more complicated systems of her ship, drew her attention. "I've identified the first person to make contact." The information displaying on Seina was replaced by different data. "Amane Kaunaq, 2nd class detective."

"Kaunaq?" She mused. "Oh her! That reminds me, I promised to find her a suitable husband, didn't I? She's a real handful." Laughing to herself, she would have to think on the next suiter to throw Amane's way. "Say, Kanemitsu-dono."

"What is it?" Hirata asked.

"Regarding our previous discussion, do you think that either of them will pass up a chance like this?"

"Ah, er, I get the feeling that their feelings really don't matter." The man replied with a resigned look on his face.

"Oh?" She asked, Hirata instantly straightening up.

"I mean, if I were in their shoes, especially his, I would never pass up such an opportunity!"

"In that case, let us go and meet our guests!" She exclaimed happily.

X x x x x x

"I can't believe this is actually a space ship." Ranma's head was on a constant swivel as she followed a female guide through a vast forest. If the trees weren't shaped different, and if she forgot about the strange animals, then she would have swore they had never left Earth. And there was something about this ship, a strange presence, just over her shoulder. It wasn't anything that set her on edge, actually it felt rather soothing.

"Technically this isn't a space ship, it's a residential area, posited within subspace. So we are not really inside of the Mikagami." The woman answered without turning around, her head obscured by a hood, and even her face was hidden by a veil.

"I see." Seina nodded blindly.

"Eh? How's that work?" She asked, intensely curious about what was going on, and not wanting to miss a thing.

"Oh right, you're from a developing planet. Subspace works as another layer placed over top our own, but unlike our own, it can be compressed or expanded without effecting the objects within. This area exists both within and out of the core unit of the Mikagami. Does that make sense?" This time the tall woman did slow down from he position in front of the group, to walk beside Ranma.

"Kind of." Pouting, she worked over the explanation. "So you basically squeezed all this stuff into that red and blue thing, but all of it remains this size? You know, instead of getting all scrunched up?"

"Yes, that is a simple way to put it, and that red and blue object is the core unit."

"Neat." Ranma smiled proudly at figuring it out.

Their path seemed to be ending underneath the roots of a large tree, where a tall cylinder sat directly underneath the center of the massive plant. Switching from soft grass, to a highly reflective wood, the shoes Ranma had been given leaving the transport ship made soft clicking noises, as she entered into the cylinder with the rest of the group. On the floor was a dimly glowing disc, and Ranma made sure to stand directly on it.

"You seem to be adjusting well Ranma-chan." Mitoto praised her.

"Ah, well it looks just like the one we got on before. Just seemed pretty simple to me." She laughed nervously and scratched at the base of her pigtail.

"You're really smart Ranma-san." Seina also complimented her, and Ranma returned his words with a withering glare.

'If he keeps calling me "Ranma-san" I'm going to throw up.' She glowered, the entire cylinder being bathed in white light. An instant of vertigo later, they appeared in the center of another wooden floor, facing three people on a raised platform. Behind the three was a grouping of trees, while all around them was a window out into the endless blackness of space.

To the left was a black haired girl with purple eyes, wearing similar clothing to the woman who had contacted the transport earlier. Though her clothing was differently colored, the overcoat being shades of pink and purple, and the hanging tag on the opposite side, primarily with orange, but with the bottom having a green and red triangle.

To the right was a stern looking man with short brown hair pulled back in a ponytail at the base of his skull. His clothing was a navy blue solid hakama pant, bound just below his knees. Overtop what looked like a kimono, was a brown jacket with poofy navy sleeves that ended in white bracers. Like the girl, he had a hanging piece of fabric, this time just a solid red.

Behind and to the center of the other two, stood a taller woman in her late twenties, early thirties, with mint green hair tied up in a high ponytail, reaching down to the floor behind her. As with the other two females, she had on a white dress, though her overcoat was different, having long white sleeves, the purple body ending at her hip, the hem going straight across. Her hair was curved in front of her face, framing her red eyes, the two crimson orbs boring down into first Ranma and then Seina. All three had narrow obi's binding their clothes at the waist, and large prominent gold buttons positioned at various points on their clothing.

"Welcome to the Mikagami, Saotome Ranma-dono and Yamada Seina-dono." The woman with mint colored hair greeted formally. "It is nice to meet you, I am Kamiki Seto Jurai."

"You're the Devil Princess?" Ranma asked, blinking repeatedly. 'How could someone who looks like that earn that name? And be the behind the scenes supreme authority for an empire like that loser Captain said?' Glancing around, she saw several more females in the large open room, all of which looked like they could send Akane into a jealous rage just by being in the room.

Her question caused the two standing next to Seto to look very nervous, glancing back at the woman as if she would explode. Laughing lightly to herself, Seto, gave Ranma an amused smile. "That I am."

Next to Ranma, Seina started to bow repeatedly, going low enough to touch the floor, the other Earthling panicking. "Hello! I'm Yamada Seina! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Ranma put her face in a hand over the embarassing groveling coming from the othe human, who had been roped into joining the GP.

"I am Kanemitsu Hirata, commander of the 7th Armada." The man introduced himself.

"And I am intelligence officer Minaho Masaki." The girl greeted.

"Nice to meet you." Ranma bowed her head. "I'm Saotome Ranma."

"Huh? Masaki? The same last name as Tenchi-senpai?" Seina asked, seemingly recognizing the girl from somewhere.

"It's been such a long time Mitoto-sama." Seto addressed the blonde woman standing between Ranma and the woman who had met them upon arriving. "I never would have expected to run into you here of all places."

"You look as well as ever, Seto-sama." Mitoto replied happily.

"Oh! That reminds me. I believe your family has contacted us." Seto started.

"I wonder if it was my father?" Mitoto looked nervous for the first time since Ranma had met the woman.

"You can speak with him over here." The Guide motioned for Mitoto to follow her, the blonde hurrying off.

"I'll be back in a minute." Mitoto called back to them, leaving Ranma and Seina alone.

"Please come this way." Seto didn't wait for a response, the world around them shifting from another of the strange teleports. This time they appeared back in the residential area, directly in front of a floating wooden table and two bench style seats, the small clearing positioned next to the edge of a cliff. "Have a seat." Seto motioned, taking a seat herself.

"Right." Seina bowed his head again, and took a seat before Ranma opposite of Seto.

Ranma had other things on her mind, shooting over to the railing made out of bushes and tree limbs, to look over the edge. "Wow, we're in a big tree." Leaning over the edge, she looked down the hundreds of meters to the ground. "This is way better than that Galaxy Police ship." Turning her head, she asked Seto. "Are all Jurai ships like this?"

"Of course not, only Jurai tree ships are like this."

"So then why are these so special?" Spinning herself around to lean her back against the railing, she cocked her head to the side.

"Sorry but such things are secret, you'll just have to accept the answer of, just because." Seto waved her hand, and an attendant appeared with a tray containing three cups of tea. "Tea?" She asked, taking a cup in her hands, and slowly blowing on the hot liquid.

"Thanks." Ranma took the offered drink along with Seina.

"I hope this whole situation hasn't had a negative effect on either of you. Allow me to express my gratitude, Seina-dono, Ranma-dono. Captain Kenichi's report indicated that it was you two who programmed the jump coordinates."

"I didn't do it! That was all him. Don't think I'm getting the blame for those pirates for breaking that ship." Ranma pointed an accusitory finger at Seina, the short haired boy laughing nervously.

"Oh? So then what did you do?" Seto asked calmly, giving Ranma an expectant look. "You did enter in coordinates, did you not?"

"Uh－ well once or twice." Playing with her pigtail, she really didn't want to know what the cost of repairing the transport ship would be, and she just knew she was going to get blamed.

"Don't be so shy, gathering all those pirates, who usually are spread over vast distances, enabled us to arrest a large horde of them in one fell swoop!" Seto's voice started to rise at the end in excitement. "The damage to a transport ship is nothing when measured against that. Though I suppose credit should be given to Seina-dono for his actions, as he was the one who gathered the most pirates."

"Ever since I was little, I've been really unlucky, it feels strange to have my bad luck be called good luck." Seina spoke in a tiny voice.

"I have been using the 7th Armada as the core of an anti-pirate force, in order to uncover large scale piracy. I'm sure that the large amount that you helped us capture today, will no doubt boost our efforts beyond what it would take us years to do. I'm sure you'll both be a welcome addition to the GP. Though－ Hirata?" Appearing behind Seto was the man from earlier.

"Unfortunately, there is the problem that you are both pure blooded Earthlings, and as such, it is prohibited for you to be brought into space. Since your civilization presently lacks the technology required to do so your own."

"And." Seto added when Hirata trailed off, having lost what he was going to say.

"And we cannot allow you to be placed in harms way. We shall take it upon ourselves to return you back to Earth." Hirata trailed off again.

"And?"

"Ah, yes, in accordance with regulation." The man's voice suddenly became deadly serious. "Your memories of this must be erased."

"What? No way you shampoo'ing me!" Ranma hopped up and prepared to hurt the first person who tried to get near her with some of that stuff Shampoo had used on Akane. The pair on the opposite side of the table stared confusedly at her, trying to understand the, admittedly strange thing she had just said.

"In the past, exceptions have been made, I suppose." Seto considered, seemingly choosing to disregard what Ranma had just said. "A few special cases have been approved, in the past that is." The mint haired woman reiterated.

"Then, no memory erasing?" Seina asked hopefully.

"Seina-dono, Ranma-dono." Seto said harshly. "The ability to attract pirates is a dangerous ability indeed, should you remain in space, your lives will always been in peril. But if you return to Earth, then you will no longer be at risk."

"You must not know about my life then." Ranma said to herself.

"Despite this, do you still wish to enter the GP?" Seto finished, glancing between them.

"Of course, I want to go into space, and see all kinds of weird things, I'd never get to see if I stayed on Earth! So yes, yes I want to stay here in space, I want to join the GP!" Seina answered immediately, standing up, and finishing confidently.

"That's all well and good, but just what is the GP?" Ranma asked. "I uh, didn't really pay attention when I filled that thing out." Next ot her, Seina's face met the wooden floor, hard. "It's a police thing right?"

"Well that does bring up a question I wanted to ask you Ranma-dono, if you don't feel strongly about joining the GP, why not join Jurai's forces?"

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked, focusing in on what Seto would have to say, so she didn't miss it again.

"The application for the GP isn't a binding contract until you are enrolled in the Academy. For simplicity, you would still attend the Academy until you were acclimated to living off of Earth. From there, your job would be largely the same, the difference being what group you would be affiliated with."

"I don't know, I'm still not sure on this GP thing. I mean, I don't want someone to try and erase my memory, but I've already missed a week of school, had to train for a duel with my old man."

"You have already been removed from the system at Furinkan High School." Hirata answered helpfully.

"Wha? But I had homework I was supposed to hand in, I even took the time to do the stupid stuff!" She groaned dramatically. "But I mean I got obligations, I can't just run off into space."

"So then you want to return to Earth?" Seto asked, taking a sip of tea.

"I can't just run off into space." She answered, it wasn't that she was adverse to the idea of seeing new places, but this was far too sudden.

"Ranma-dono, do you know why the caged bird sings?" Seto's red eyes bore down into Ranma's own.

"Er, what does that have to do with anything?"

"It's always interesting to see the reaction of an individual who has grown up on a developing planet such as yours. Tell me, what are your dreams? Your aspirations? Seina-dono has just expressed a desire to see the galaxy, what is yours?"

"Dreams? I don't know, I guess take over the dojo. It wouldn't be much but, but I'd get to practice the art and－ well what does it matter anyways?" She questioned in a huff, crossing her arms.

"Oh yes, the dojo." Seto smiled, and to Ranma's left, a viewscreen popped up displaying an overview of the Tendo estate. "A very nice home for Tokyo, if I remember correctly, land there is an expensive commodity. Of course you could go back there, you might even be stationed there like Mihoshi-dono."

"Mihoshi! Where? Where is she?" Ranma demanded, looking around rapidly.

"I see that your introduction to space, really didn't go well." Seto's pleasant exterior grew slightly strained.

Calming down, Ranma berated herself mentally for getting worked up over the mention of Mihoshi's name. 'That woman is worse than a cat.' Taking one last look around, her nerves were finally at ease. "So you want me to join your military?"

"Yes." Seto answered.

"And if I don't, you're going to try and erase my memory." She pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes at the tall woman. "So you're threatening me."

"Unfortunately, it is the way things are. While exceptions can be made to bring both of you into space, the reverse cannot."

"What choice do I have then?" No way was she going to let someone mess around with her head.

"You shouldn't be so pessimistic, you have a great opportunity in front of you." The mint haired woman gave Ranma a pleasant smile.

"Will I be able to go back?" She asked.

"Of course, I have several relatives currently living close to your home, and I make a point to visit often. You would be more than welcome to tag along." Seto's smile grew to a slightly disturbing level, but Ranma missed it, more engrossed in her own thoughts.

"Can I have some hot water?" She asked the attendant who was standing just off to the side. "Not tea, just hot water." She explained seeing that the woman was pouring another cup of tea, and instead simply poured a normal glass of water. "Guess you should probably know about this then." Ranma shrugged before pouring the hot liquid over her head.

One near instant change of gender later, Ranma adjust his belt to better hold his gi together. Seina's reaction to first seeing the curse, was another face first trip into the floor.

"That explains the errors in your paperwork." Hirata commented, the people from space not seeming to be very surprised at his curse.

"Do you require water for that all the time, or just now for some reason?" Seto asked, her red eyes shining with a strange gleam.

"Uh, it's a curse, I always need water, and I'm really a guy." He explained, shaking some water from his hair.

"You're not a girl?" Seina looked at him with the same kind of shock and disbelief that Hiroshi and Daisuke had when they had first found out about the curse. "What? How?"

"Never said I was." He snorted. "And it's a curse, cold water turns me into a girl, hot turns me back."

Seina's brain took a moment to reboot after that revelation. "What if you get splashed with both at the same time?"

"I get wet."

"A useful ability to have, though this water trigger appears to be something of a bother. I'll have to ask Washu-chan if she can do anything for that." Seto mused.

"Am I missing something here?" Ranma asked. "I mean, usually people react like him." He jerked a thumb at Seina, who was moving around him, inspecting Ranma for a trick.

"Shapeshifters, while uncommon, are known to exist." Hirata explained.

"Yes, I'll definitely have to contact Washu-chan, I'm sure she'll be able to fix this water issue." Seto nodded to herself.

"You mean, you can cure me?" He asked, his voice one part disbelief, and the other hope.

"Nothing is for certain, but if anyone can, Washu-chan can." Seto answered.

"Yes! Oh thank you thank you thank you!" Ranma was across the table in an instant, taking Seto's hands in his own and bouncing up and down excitedly.

Seto laughed lightly, but after a few seconds, forcibly dragged her hands from his own. "So, does this mean you accept?"

"Lady, if you can cure me, you got a deal."

"Excellent." Seto smiled so widely that her eyes closed.

X x x x x x

Some time later, Hirata stood to Seto's left on the command deck of the Mikagami, watching as the GP transport ship entered into a hyperspace jump. It didn't take a genius to see that Seto was playing the two Earthlings like a fiddle. The female turning out to be a shapeshifter was, admittedly, an oddity, but it wasn't a deal breaker. Hirata could already see those well oiled gears turning in Seto's head, he honestly felt sorry for both of them.

'Better them than me.' He thought, allowing the left corner of his mouth to quirk upwards in a smile.

"Something on your mind?" Seto asked, and he jerked as if shot.

"Ah－ no, Seto-sama." He laughed nervously. "Though, why did you ask the shape changing one to join with us? She, he, wasn't the one who attracted all the pirates."

"Simple, Hirata-kun, Mikagami-chan liked him."

"Mikagami－ liked－ him?" He asked slowly, Minaho having the same reaction from the other side of Seto.

"I would have asked Seina-dono as well, but I wouldn't dream of taking her fun away." Seto laughed to herself.

Minaho put a hand to her face and groaned. "Boy is he going to be surprised when he sees Kiriko."

X x x x x x

"We've entered hyperspace jump, all systems performing within tolerance." Cohen reported.

Ranma let the strangely mundane detail of using technology that would take centuries for his planet to reach, go by, in favor of opening the thin folder he had been given by Minaho. The outside was a blue green color, with a row of elliptical gold leaves haphazardly running down the right side of the front, and the left side of the back.

Like the application for the Galaxy Police, it was only two pages, the difference being this had a lot more information on it. Detailing who he was, where he was from, related family members, and even physical information for both his forms. 'Huh? How'd they get my sizes?' He wondered, wasn't like someone had come around with a tape measure.

"What are you three doing? Get back to your posts immediately!" The Captain demanded, and Ranma became aware of three forms hovering over top of him. Looking up he found all three of the crew members glaring bloody murder at him.

"What have you done with our Ranma-sama?" Barry asked, leaning in far too close.

"Ranma－- sama?" He snorted, these three were the only ones who didn't know about the curse. Mitoto had been filled in when she had returned to the group on the Mikagami, and the Captain had found out shortly after. "I'm the only Ranma here, probably the only one for a billion kilometers." He decided to take the direct approach, with any luck, he would never see these three idiots again.

"Liar! Ranma-sama is beautiful, and brave, and most definitely not a man!" Alan yelled in his face.

"If you three don't get back to your post I'm going to have you cleaning the toilets till you're old and gray!" The Captain appeared behind the three and yelled into their ears. In a show of speed Ranma barely caught, the trio ran back to the seats at the front. "Honestly." Giving a firm tug at the bottom of his jacket, the Captain stormed back to his seat.

Ignoring the three murderous glances, Ranma leaned back in his seat, and crossing his arms over the imigration papers, he tried to take a nap. With how the stars were blurring by outside, he was getting a headache. He also half wished that this was all a dream that he would wake up from.

"Ranma-chan." A pleasant feminine voice interuppted his nap.

"Go way Sumi." He twisted away from the hand prodding his shoulder.

"Ranma-chan, we're here."

"Where?" Grumbling over the injustice of having such a wonderful nap having to end, he sat up straight, and blinked the sleep from his eyes.

"Docking system access complete." Alan reported, and a viewscreen popped up with an average looking man.

"Please transmit welcome code." The man requested.

Ranma looked past the viewscreen to the outside space, finding a large silver struture going stretching as far as he could see. "What is that?" He and Seina asked together.

"This is the immigration station." The Captain answered, and Ranma hopped out of his seat to press his face against the glass, to get a better look at the immense structure. "Ah, you should sit down, we'll be docking soon."

"It's huge!" Seina added, following his lead about pressing his face up against the glass. "How big is it?"

"Hmm, to put it in simple terms, a solar system could easily fit inside of it." The question was once again answered by the dark skinned man.

Rubbing at his eyes, Ranma decided he must still be dreaming, because what he was seeing could not exist. A viewscreen in the front had displayed the strucutre, three rings, spaced an equal distance from each other, forming a sphere in space.

Even knowing the shape of the station, he couldn't comprehend the magnitude of such a place. As their ship closed in to a large open hanger, the size became more and more obvious, the height of the wall they were approaching being far larger than the tallest building he had ever come across.

"Why is it so big?" He asked, his jaw getting sore from gaping.

"This is the immigration hub for one fourth of the galaxy, it also acts a trade center, and office complex. It has to be able to house facilities for billions of worlds." Mitoto supplied helpfully. (1)

Shooting out from the hanger, was a pair of parallel dashed lines, the blue light guiding them, and into position between two platforms. Unfolding from the platforms, were a dozen arms that connected to the side of the ship, securing it in place. More hoses dropped down from the ceiling, automatically connecting to parts unseen. Underneath the two platforms, the ship was set down slowly in a large tank of water.

"Cargo container has been released, transport of cargo is successful." Barry announced, the ship bouncing once, before settling into position.

"Setting all systems to stand by mode. We are clear to leave." Alan added a moment later, the trio near instantly running out of the cockpit.

"Well, shall we go?" The Captain asked. "I still have to get you two through immigration."

"Right." Seina nodded excitedly.

Ranma left the second space ship he had ever been on, out the same door that he had come in on. A gently sloping platform had been raised from the dock, allowing them to walk down from the access door, which was closer to the top. Standing at the bottom of the ramp, was an elderly man with the same skin tone, hair, and eye color as Mitoto. He was standing sternly with his arms cross, and wearing a tan jumpsuit, with orange borders on the arms and legs.

"It looks like you've had emergency repairs made, and for it to still look like this, you must have taken quite a beating." The man commented, his eyes moving from the ship, to Ranma and Seina. "The new cadets, I presume? I am Kuramitsu Minami, head of the GP. I am currently overseeing the repairs performed on this dock. Hmm." The man stopped with whatever he was going to say, peering intently at Ranma. "The report said that there was a female cadet, no bother, an error can easily be correct."

"Phew." Ranma wiped away some imaginary sweat.

"Names?" Minami asked.

"Yamada Seina." The short haired boy greeted, bowing his head.

"Saotome Ranma." He greeted.

"I'm really sorry, it's my fault that the ship was damaged." Seina apologized, and Ranma noticed that Mitoto was rapidly trying to stealthily side step herself away.

"Nonsense, the crew is fine, and all the cargo has been safely transported. There's no need to worry." Minami put a reassuring hand on the depressed Seina's shoulder, and Ranma noticed that Mitoto took the chance to tip toe away rapidly. "In a single night, we'll have the ship as good as new." Minami's eyes shot to the retreating Mitoto. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Eeee-ya!" Mitoto froze midstep, a crane coming down and grabbing her around the waist, and depositing her next to Minami. "I'm sorry, Father!" She apologized, sitting on the floor.

"Well that explains why you look so much alike." Ranma commented, forgetting the age and gender difference, they were almost identical in looks.

"Alright you two, we should got take care of your immigration process." The Captain saluted Minami, the elder man nodding in return, with a stiff turn, the dark skinned man walked off briskly.

"Good bye." Mitoto waved as they left to catch up with the man.

"Later!" He yelled back, catching up to the Captain.

"Bye!" Seina followed a moment later, but after several steps, a hole opened up beneath him, plunging him down into the platform.

"Huh?" Ranma and the Captain both turned around when the motors controlling the docking equipment suddenly started up, releasing the ship, and the overhead hoses start to flail wildly in the air. The ship rocked side to side, before rising up into the air uncontrollably. Explosions came from the hose entry points, and with a shuddering heave, it dropped down into water tank below.

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Ranma yelled at the wave that crashed down on him.

X x x x x x

A soggy Ranma sat next to the Captain, Seina being banished to sitting perfectly still on the grass in front of them. Everytime the other Earthling would twitch, her attentive eyes would watch every movement. Some how, Seina had activated an access hatch, sending him crashing down on top of a control panel, which immediately after touching the boy, had caused all the dock controls to short circuit.

"Sorry." Seina apologized for the hundredth time, rubbing at a bandage he had gotten from his injuries.

They were in a waiting area, a sphered in grassy clearing, at the center of a much larger sphere. Floating randomly throughout the area outside of the waiting area, were bubbles containing groups of people who want privacy or would be waiting a long time, since some were darkened on the outside, and she had seen some with beds.

Ranma wasn't that concerned with the outside area, which while interesting, was a bit too much for her to wrap her mind around. So instead, she focused on the large leafy tree in the center of the waiting area, and the shallow moat of water circling it. Letting her eyes drift from Seina, she caught sight of the space outside of the big sphere, the entire structure being a sort of observatory.

Even the table she was sitting at was super advanced technology, the clean white and round table, floating just off of the ground. The round pedastal like chairs also floated. The Captain reached towards the center of the table, and pushed a button, a viewscreen popping up obediently.

"Would either of you like some food? Even though we're a special case, it may take some time. My treat."

"Sure." Ranma's stomach growled at the mention of food.

"Here, select what you want." Reaching up, the man gripped the viewscreen, and turned it towards her.

"Ya know this is kind of bugging me, but why is everything written in Japanese or English?" Putting a finger to her lips, she pondered what she wanted to get.

"The answer is that it's not, when you look at or interact with viewscreens or keyboards, they automatically sense the language you understand, and display accordingly."

"Why not just add translations?" Selecting a ramen dish, the food instantly popped into existence directly in front of her, even had a pair of chopsticks sitting convienently across the bowl. "Awesome!"

"Too many languages, even the big widespread languages would fill up this entire tabletop, just to translate hello into all of them."

Shoveling some of the perfectly cooked food into her mouth, she paused. "Uh, so how do you talk to people? You speak good Japanese."

"I don't." Raising his hand, the Captain showed off a watch without anything visible to tell time. "This projects a field around me that automatically translates like the viewscreens. There are other ways, but this is one of the simpler and more efficient."

"Do you mind if I make a phone call?" Seina asked. "I'm hungry, but I would like to call my family first."

"The phone booth is over there." The Captain pointed to a gray object through a small group of waiting people. "Remember to use the planet number."

"Right." Seina nodded and took off at a brisk pace. Ranma took a moment to look up at the viewscreens spaced around the waiting area, each one displaying the number for the next inline.

"Do you want to call home as well?"

"Nah, not right now." Truthfully Ranma wasn't looking forward to getting a hold of the Tendo home. True, she could pass it off as training and an attempt to get a cure. But the conversation was likely going to piss her off.

"Seina!" The Captain yelled, making the retreating boy stop. "No time, our number just got moved up." Ranma quickly finished off her food, and followed after the Captain towards more transporter tubes.

"Hey wait, can I get hot water form this thing?" She asked, running back to the table, and looking for the switch to bring up the viewscreen again.

"No time, if we miss our number, we have to wait for it to come around again." The Captain grabbed her wrist, and started to drag her from the table.

"No! It can can't it!" She dragged her feet, but found the Captain to have enough strength to pull her away.

X x x x x x

Arm's crossed, Ranma glared at the Captain, the man placing both her Jurai form, and Seina's GP form, on a small slanted panel. The room they were now in was small and enclosed, the half they were on being seperated from the other by a wall of glass and a door. Unlike the grass waiting area they had just been in, this one was like the inside of the transport ship. Pale blue metal walls, sliding doors, and a clean, sterile look to everything.

Both forms instantly dissolved, only to reappear on the other side of the glass, where a woman with long brown hair started to enter data into a keypad. "Kiriko-san!" Seina asked, looking for a way to get through the door.

"You know her?" Ranma wondered, the girl behind the glass was wearing a red long sleeved vest, with a white minidress on underneath, and covering her legs were black leggings.

There was no outward reaction to Seina's calling of her name, and when she was done typing, a synthesized female voice played in their section. "Inspection complete. Immigration approved." The door to the left slid upwards, allowing the excited Seina to run through.

"I'm glad you're safe Seina-chan." Kiriko said softly in response to Seina.

'Interesting.' Ranma crossed her arms and leaned up against the wall, watching the younger boy, and older girl converse.

"W-when I woke up, I was inside a spaceship! I was going to call you, cause Mom, Dad, and Sis stole the cakes you made for me! Except I couldn't because a bunch of pirates showed up. Then I was going to try again but we had to come here."

"Seina-chan, return to Earth right now." Kiriko lost all sweetness to her voice, her eyes narrowing. Standing, she gently took Seina's hands in her own, staring deeply into the boys eyes.

"Hey hey, do you have any popcorn?" Ranma nudged the Captain. "Little mushy but a good show." The glare Kiriko turned her way could have set Ranma on fire. "What?"

"Quiet you." Kiriko snarled venomously.

"Eep." Ranma ducked behind the wall, except she remembered after doing so that the wall was glass, and Kiriko's eyes bored into her.

"Kiriko-san, I understand that you're concerned about Seina-kun's well being. But he has special permission, his parents approved, and even he has said that he wants to join the GP." The Captain tried to diffuse the situation.

"Quiet!" Kiriko snarled again, and Ranma found the Captain suddenly hiding behind her.

"Eh?"

The door on the far wall suddenly retracted up into the wall, allowing that blonde woman who had gotten her stuck in this predicament, to enter. "Hi!" She greeted warmly, wearing the same clothes she had been seen in before, though with a jacket like Mihoshi was wearing early, but the colors were purple arms and a navy blue body.

"I had a feeling I'd meet you two again." With a small jump, the woman had glomped on to Seina. "Seina-kun, did you come all this way to see lil ol me?" The blonde made circle motions on Seina's chest with a finger, wrapping her other arm around the boy's neck. "I ran all the way here when I heard about the big trouble you had on your way here."

Ranma blinked her eyes rapidly, looking back and forth between the two obviously fueding women. She should know, she had a couple who fought over her as well. 'But why would they fight over that klutz Seina?' She wondered, her eyes lighting up when she saw a small bag of chips underneath the desk.

"Amane Kaunaq, 2nd-class Detective." Kiriko said through clenched teeth. "We're still in the middle of the immigration process."

"The door's open though." Amane replied calmly.

"I'm in the middle of seeing what Seina-kun wants to do!" The brown haired girl fumed at being ignored. Ranma started to munch on some potatoe chips, enjoying being on the outside of the show immensely.

"What are talking about? He came all this way, you're being very rude by telling him to leave." Amane waved off the girl's concern. "And I don't see you bothering her about not joining." Ranma looked at the finger pointing towards her nose, her position having shifted to just off to the side, and between the trio.

"She doesn't matter, what matters－ are those my chips?" Kiriko raised an eyebrow, finally having taken a look over at Ranma.

"They were under the desk." Shoving another of the tasty treats in her mouth, she held out the bag. "Want one?"

X x x x x x

Trying to make her displeasure known through a frown, Ranma knew it was a futile effort, the whole effect simply didn't work when she was in female form. Instead of looking angry, she looked cute, which when scamming food was great. "Didn't have to hit me." She rubbed at her right cheek. 'Damn she hits hard, who trained her?'

"Do you realize how hard it is to get Earth food here?" Kiriko glowered. "And that was my last bag." (2)

"They were good though." Losing her melancholy, she straightened up, and took in her surroundings, having entered into the Chairwoman's office.

Office seemed to be a loose term, since it was approximately the same size as the grounds of Furinkan High School. The floor was a black marble, with a small white fence blocking off the drop down into small pools and fenced in areas, with strange animals in them. The ceiling was a glass dome, allowing an unobscured view into space. Placed in the center of the large room was an L shaped desk, an ornate teleport tube to the left, and behind, just off the platform, stood two tall trees.

Sitting on a high backed chair, was a woman with green hair, pulled up into a bun on the back of her head, and gold eyes. She wore a primarily orange dress, with red arms. Standing to the right of the chair, was an older woman, who instantly reminded Ranma of Mihoshi and Mitoto. She wore a long beige robe, with two red badges with a yellow stripe across the bottom pinned over her right breast.

"Chairwoman Airi, Galactic law prohibits bringing people from primitive civilizations into space. Yet Amane has purposely broken this to bring him into space. Further more, it is far too dangerous to let such an unlucky boy as Seina to join the GP!" Kiriko finished her speech by slamming both of her hands on the desk. "His encounter with the pirates is surely proof enough."

"Seems like she forgot about me." Ranma nudged Amane, somewhat put off that Seina was getting so much attention.

"Don't worry, we'll tease her about it later." The blonde whispered back, and Ranma nodded. "Chairwoman, Seina's gift would go to waste if he stayed on Earth. With a single ship, he found what an entire Juraian Armada couldn't."

"And what would have happened if the Juraian Armada hadn't been there? Besides, it was your carelessness that put Seina-chan in danger!"

"Immigration Inspector Masaki!" The Mitoto look a-like stopped Kiriko from continuing. "Calm yourself, this isn't like you at all." Kiriko's face flushed, and she looked away.

"Indeed, it is as you said, Amane's actions were reckless and against regulations. Do you have any explanation?" Aira questioned.

"Chairwoman, I saw Seina's gift as soon as I met him. So I figured he should enter the GP, and put it to use." Amane answered.

"While Ranma-san isn't joining the GP anymore, they both have parental consent, and Seto-sama has personally requested that they be exempt from the regulation. So unless either of them have an objection?" Airi looked between Seina and Ranma. Ranma didn't have much of an objection, she had already made up her mind that getting a cure was worth the hassle. At the very least all this stuff was incredibly interesting.

"I've made my decision, I want to stay in space." Seina answered.

"Then the Galactic Academy accepts both of you, Yamada Seina's enlistment to the GP, and Saotome Ranma's enlistment with Jurai." Aira announced casually, causing Amane to clap happily, and Kiriko to look away depressed.

"Don't just look so glum, let's go take care of your enlistment procedures!" With a skip to her step, Airi came around the table, and grabbed both Ranma and Seina's wrists, and dragged them into the teleport tube.

"W-wait!" Seina tried to protest before they were swallowed by light.

X x x x x x

"Now then."

Amane kept smiling pleasantly as Mikami pulled up a keyboard, and a half dozen viewscreens. Surely they couldn't pin this on her, even Kamiki Seto Jurai had come to a similar conclusion as her.

"While the situation has resolved itself this time, there is no question that you're actions were unnecessarily reckless. Therefore it has been decided, that your promotion to 1st-class Detective is to be postponed."

"What? Mikami-sensei, you can't be serious!" She protested loudly.

"I am, and you will serve as an instructor at the GP Academy for the next six months while you think over what you've done." Rapidly typing on the keypad, Mikami smiled pleasantly, and pushed a viewscreen button. "Do your best, Amane-sensei."

The purple control node in the center of her collar, flashed repeatedly, and her vest bleached from navy blue to white. "I understand." Bowing her head, she made the long walk of shame to the doorway, resigning herself to the humiliation. Closing the door, she blew a raspberry back at her boss, in one last act of defiance. (3)

"Or would you prefer cleaning restrooms with Mitoto?" A viewscreen of Mikami appeared in front of her, smiling pleasantly.

"I'm sorry!" She apologized, bowing her head repeatedly.

X x x x x x

Mikami laughed to herself, Amane was such a fun influence, before turning her eyes to the distraught Kiriko in front of her. "You know it's because you care for him, that Seto-sama uses you for her fun."

"Sensei I!" Kiriko started, obviously trying to explain her reasons, which mattered little in the long run.

"I understand that you knew him from a very young age, and loved him like your own brother. But he can't remain a child forever." Rapidly calling up Kiriko's information, she altered the job and post. "You too will serve as a GP instructor for a short while."

"But." The younger female tried to form a protest, her green control node flashing, and her red vest turning to white.

"There was a message from Seto-sama. She said to work him hard and make him into a man." She explained, Kiriko's pale face developing a bright blush. "Full of meaning, no?"

X x x x x x

Ranma found that even in space, train stations still existed, as they passed over a set of tracks for a float train. Since the trains actually floated, the tracks were simply a way to indicate where the trains would pass by. Of course they were walking on a walkway above the tracks, with a sky viewscreen running with the tracks, making it look like they were on a planet, if you ignored the views into space on either side.

"Good afternoon, Chairwoman." A female voice spoke from behind, and Ranma turned around to see a strange humanoid. She had on a purple dress down to her knees, with a pink tie, and black leggings. The strange thing about her, was the short white fur that covered her exposed skin, the pronounced muzzle face, large pointed ears, and a tail.

"It's not strange for an Earthling to be surprised when first meeting a Wau." The new girl seemed slightly amused at Seina's look of shock, while Ranma was more or less over the oddity as soon as she had seen it.

"I'm sorry!"Seina apologized for his slack jawed gaze.

"You don't seem to be too shocked?" The girl questioned at Ranma's uninterest.

"I know someone who turns into a giant minotaur thing. Compared to that, you're pretty tame." She shrugged.

"Really?" Seina asked her. "A minotaur?"

"Yea, he's a real jerk, got some weird pantyhose fetish too."

"Panty-hose?" Seina wondered.

"This is Elma, my assistant." Airi introduced. "Elma, these are the two Earthlings."

"It's nice to meet you." The taller girl came forward and gently rubbed her cheeck against Ranma's face.

"Ack!" Ranma pulled away, not having expected some kind of cuddle attack. Elma didn't seem offended, though she took several sniffs of the air.

"You poor thing, don't worry, you'll be paid enough that you don't have to share clothes with your brother." Elma smiled at her before doing the same with Seina, who didn't resist the cuddling.

"Brother? I don't have a brother." She scratched the side of her head, noticing that Airi had developed a particularly amused smile.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought I smelled something." Elma released a blushing Seina, and bowed to Airi. "Please excuse me, I have duties to attend to." Ranma watched the retreating form, feeling that there was something strange about the Wau.

"Seina-kun." Airi leaned in close to the boy. "You work fast don't you." The green haired woman said suggestively. "Maybe I should tell Kiriko-chan about this."

"Wait! It's not like that!" The boy backed away from the Chairwoman, waving his arms in warding, and backing into the railing of the platform.

"Well, I guess I can let you off the hook, this time." Airi waved a hand flippantly, and Seina relaxed, leaning heavily against the railing. "Now then, let's hurry and get the enrollment process－ Ranma-chan, where did you get that bag of chips?"

Finishing off the bag, Ranma was just starting to enjoy the show, Seina seemed to have worse luck with women than she did. "From Kiriko." She answered, blinking several times when the railing broke, and Seina tumbled over the edge. "I think Seina broke himself, again." She pointed out.

X x x x x x

After getting Seina off the tracks before he was struck by a train, they proceeded to do some medical examinations. This was accomplished by standing in a cylinder, and having a red light pass over her. "Uh, shouldn't I get some hot water?" She asked Airi, exiting the scanning device.

"Not really." The green haired woman answered. "That is, all the genetic information for your male form, was readable by the scanner. So unless your male form has physical problems or issues you think we should know about? No physical deformities, disease, or injuries?"

"No nothing like that."

"Then there's no reason you need to get wet. Hmm, I wonder what we should do now?" Airi crossed her arms. "We're done with the examinations and you're already entered into the system. And I don't suppose you want to be shown around the Academy by an older, but still youthful and beautiful, woman such as myself. Surely you would want someone younger like Elma, to be your guide." Airi finished dramatically.

"Uh, that's not true." Seina protested.

"Anybody but Mihoshi." Ranma added, not really caring who showed her around. Her attitude earned her a whithering glance from Airi.

"In that case, I suppose I'll have to show you the super deluxe tour, so you'll appreciate my attention." Airi pronounced, the button over her left breast suddenly flashing. "Oh, hold on a second, I have a call I need to take."

"Man she's clingy." Ranma sat down heavily on a seat as soon as Airi was out of sight, dissappearing behind a couple desks. Bouncing on the transparent blue cylinder she had sat on, this whole thing had began to get boring. Here she was, surrounded by super high technology, on an immeasurably large space station, and she was bored. Other than the view into space, it felt like they were in some kind of bank. People in blue GP uniforms were milling about or interacting with those sitting at desks.

"Yamada Seina and Saotome Ranma." A man's voice said distastefully, drawing both of their eyes. The one who spoke was a taller man, with bright pink hair, looking skyward with his arms crossed. He was wearing a dark gray, almost black tunic, with blue edging. "I despise Earthlings!" He proclaimed loudly without looking at them.

"The presence of you two makes a mockery out of the Academy! This place was not meant for babysitting uncivilized Earthlings!" Finally tilting his head downwards, he directed a particularly hateful glare at her. "You may not be joining the GP, but you have tarnished the just as glorious Jurai empire by your presence! To think that Seto-sama would personally request that you be allowed to attend our prestigious institution, is an insult of the highest order."

"So what are you going to do about it?" She challenged.

"Bah! Uncivilized savages! As if I would be so crass as to physically remove you myself. I'll let the rigorous physical requirements and the curriculum, that is so far beyond the understanding of such a lower life form as you, do the job for me!" The man pointed a finger at her, and Ranma noticed Airi's angry face appear behind the man.

"I tell you now, go back to your uncivilized Earth at once, you uncivilized." The man didn't finish, a pair of black folders several centimeters thick impacting the back of his head.

"Stop trying to intimidate my new students, you moron!"

Cowering on the ground, the man held the back of his head. "Ai-Airi-sama, I wasn't trying to intimidate them." Recovering almost instantly, he stood up calmly, and moved behind Ranma to lay a hand on her shoulder. "I was simply informing." This time the man had to stop, when Ranma grabbed his wrist, and threw him into the wall.

"Don't touch me you pink haired idiot." She growled, brushing off imaginary dirt from her shoulder.

"Nice throw Ranma-chan." Airi commented, nodding her head in approval.

"I－ just remembered I have a class!" The pink haired man said from where he was laying against the wall upside down. "Seina-kun, I look forward to seeing you in class." He tried to threaten from his position.

"Just go." Airi pointed towards the exit.

"Right." The man righted himself, gathered up all the dignity he could, and then calmly walked away from them.

"Who was he?" Seina asked, confused over the situation.

"He doesn't have any relatives on Earth does he?" Ranma added, considering a family of loons that she knew.

"He's a GP Academy instructor." Airi answered.

"Instructor? Him?" Seina boggled.

"Yes, I'll tell you on the way, we have a decent walk to the transporter tubes. This way." Airi motioned for them to follow.

Ranma was once again taken back by just how big the space station was. Their path took them down a long hallway. It was easily ten meters tall, and a good five meters wide, with small plants running down the center of the walkway. To the left was a window into space, to the right, a viewscreen showing off a grass valley with mountains off in the distance.

"His name is Tennan Seiryo. He's actually a very talented member of the GP, and at one time he was also a candidate suitor for the Juraian Royal Family." Airi explained. "He's on the border between a lunatic and genius. Things were alright while he was walking that fine line, but then he lost to Tenchi-chan in a duel, and he's been proclaiming his hatred for Earthlings ever since. Personally I've taken a liking to him."

"Tenchi-chan?" Seina seemed to recognize the name. "Do you mean－?"

"Of course I meant Masaki Tenchi."

"But why would he get into a fight with Tenchi-senpai?" Seina continued.

"That's true you don't know." Airi put a finger to her lips. "Ah! I know." The Chairwoman pushed both of them down on a bench seat, and hit a button on her wrist, causing a meter square viewscreen to pop up with a family tree on it. "Ready? Make sure you pay particular attention Ranma-chan. Okay, the offspring of Azusa, the current king of Jurai, and his 1st wife Funaho is Yosho. He also happens to be my husband." Airi pointed to each name on the drawing.

"So then Yosho ran into some trouble on Earth, and then he had a grandson, Tenchi-chan. Incidentally, the mother of Azusa's second wife Misaki, is Seto, whom you've already met. Do you understand?"

"Wait wait wait, he has two wives?" Ranma asked worriedly.

"Indeed, polygomy is quite common."

"Eeee." Ranma looked around worriedly, sensing some kind of inpending doom if Akane, Shampoo, or Ukyo ever found out about this.

"Uh, in other words, that makes you Tenchi-senpai's, Grandmother?" Seina figured, Airi's face turning into a frightful sneer as she got into the boy's face.

"DON'T YOU EVER CALL ME GRANDMOTHER!" The woman barked harshly.

"Sorry!" Seina fell backwards off the chair, and Ranma jumped several meters away from the suddenly scary woman.

"Ahem." Airi stepped away and dismissed the viewscreen. "We should get going."

Ranma mentally catalogued the reaction away should she feel the need to mess with the woman. But she would be prepared to run for her life if she did, if that was how the Chairwoman reacted to even the slightest mention of the word.

"So, um, that means that Kiriko-san and Kai both have some relationship to that Juraian family?" Seina asked, sensing that Airi had calmed down.

"Yes, though Kai likely doesn't know it, and I'll warn you in advance, don't tell him. I hear all the others are looking forward to when and how they'll break the news to him." Airi answered. "And Kai is Kiriko's younger brother." The woman added, seeing that Ranma was a little lost on the name.

Coming to a break in the viewscreen wall, they entered into a long room. At the close end were two counters with a woman tending to one, and down at the far end were a series of changing rooms. "Shall we throw on the finishing touches before we head down?" Airi smiled pleasantly.

"Clothes?" Ranma asked, watching a group of four girls bring several sets up to the lady in the front.

"Of course, or did you think you would attend the Academy in those?" Airi laughed, approaching the wall, and bringing up a viewscreen and keyboard. "Please take a room, and I'll materialize your clothes inside."

Stepping into one of the change rooms, the door slid shut behind her. 'Hopefully I can get my stuff from Earth soon.' Inside the room was a quarter circle seat in one of the corners, and on the opposite side was a squared table, that as Ranma was looking at, materialized a set of clothes. 'Let's see what kind of crap they gave me.'

Ranma was confused by what had appeared, discarding the underwear, she held up the white straight legged pants, which looked to be about ten sizes too big. Throwing them to the side, she found a long sleeved shirt like Minaho had been wearing on the Mikagami, the only real decoration being on it, was the green collar, and large golden button. Unfortunately, it was just as monstrously big. Completing the set was the same overcoat, but the base color was a very light green, and with a dark green border. Which, the same as everything but the underwear, was also rediculously big.

Hitting the button to open the door, she held up the overcoat. "Hey, you screwed up, these are girl clothes, and they are way too big."

"Oh, don't worry, you just hit the gold button on the shirt, and it will automatically resize for you." Airi answered.

"Really? Sounds useful." She took a second to think about how useful such a thing was for the Jusenkyo cursed. "But why are they for a girl?"

"I thought you knew." Airi gave her a confused look for a second, before smiling. "You were registered, and enrolled, as female." (4)

X x x x x x

Author Notes:

(1) – Mitoto is actually talking about a group of galaxies that the Milky Way is a part of.

(2) – Kiriko was actually in the Yamada's shop to resupply herself with Earth goods, but was called away before she could buy anything. This happened when Ranma was finding out that he had a living Mother.

(3) – Uniforms are cut differently depending on the job, if they're white then they are inactive.

(4) – Seto thought it would be funny. Also if you want another way to think of the clothes, think Misaki from OVA episode 13, but with different colors.

－-

Career Benefits Omake – By Luthorne

It was a special occasion. If birds existed in space, they would be happily chirping. As it was, Ranma was fairly certain he could somehow hear bluebirds, which he ascribed to the power of the blue-haired individual hanging in space, looking at him sternly. "...are you listening to me, Ranma Saotome? I expect you to be back before the end of Jurai's solar cycle. And if not, well, I'm afraid that I'm going to have speak _very_ sternly to you..."

Ranma tuned her out again, wondering how the hell he wound up in this particular situation. Let's see...yes, it definitely all stemmed back to Seina. All Seina's fault. If he hadn't met Seina, he wouldn't have met Seto. If he wouldn't have met Seto, he wouldn't have met Mikagami. If he hadn't met Mikagami, he wouldn't have had her acquire some sort of bizarre, unspeakable crush on him. And if she hadn't acquired some sort of bizarre, unspeakable crush on him, he wouldn't have been caught mid-route to a remote, uninhabited planet by the insanely powerful blue-haired lady who could turn into a spaceship and was apparently somehow Mikagami's _mother_ and thought this whole thing was _cute_, rather than some...some...bizarre, unspeakable thing. However, blaming Tsunami wasn't a particularly safe course of action, blaming a giant ship with more firepower than he could easily imagine at its overly emotional disposal wasn't all that healthy either, Seto, frankly, terrified him, so the person upon whom all the blame should _obviously_ fall...yes, _definitely_ Seina. All his fault. Totally.

"...and if I see so much as _one_ suspicious-looking mark near the front of her hull, well. You and I will have words, Ranma Saotome. My little girl is far too innocent to be rushing into something like that because of a pushy, hormonal young man." Ranma managed to refrain from turning green at the implications. Merciful _kami_, why would he want to...deface her hull or whatever bizarrities Tsunami was imagining? Hell, he didn't even think he could! "So, enjoy your first date!" Ranma strangled the groan that wanted to emanate from his throat, watching with horrified amazement as Tsunami grew to an unspeakable side to give Mikagami a _hug_, then kiss her on either...hull? Dammit. Dammit, the fault was _his_ for _ever_ listening to that Oni-hime Seto!

－－-

Despite the lack of oxygen in space, bells tolled, the sound transmitted by the power of Tsunami, and ravening torrents of energy capable of destroying worlds were fired off harmlessly into space as a salute to a most joyous occasion. Seto was looking bemusedly smug as she watched Mikagami slowly coast into the decorated spaceport, uncountably huge amounts of shimmering material draped from her hull in a frilly pattern unmistakably that of a Western wedding dress. Tsunami had made it herself.

Ranma stood, waiting nervously. He probably would have paced, if it wasn't for a truly insanely powerful set of some sort of hyperadvanced magnets strapped around his legs, riveting him to the spot with a force usually reserved for interstellar spacecraft. You'd almost think they didn't trust him not to run away or something. Just because it had happened thirteen thousand, two hundred and eighty-four times before was no reason to assume that it would happen again, Ranma thought indignantly! He had to admit, though, he _did_ look pretty spiffy in his tuxedo. Thankfully, it seemed Mikagami had somehow wound up with a fetish for Western weddings, rather than the outfits that seemed more typical for Juraian formal wear.

The wedding was, thankfully, over quickly, probably to prevent things from going wrong. Tsunami had led the ceremony herself, blessed the supposedly loving couple, and used a sock puppet with a multi-colored braid attached to the back to stand in for Ranma and give his vows. Everyone apparently found this to be greatly amusing, judging from the wide grins on everyone's faces. Though, admittedly, some people found this whole thing to be highly amusing, probably because _they_ weren't the ones marrying a ship with more firepower than most planets. He could almost see their point, though. I mean, if this had been happening to Seina, it would have been freaking _hilarious_.

Sighing, Ranma laid stretched on his bed, alone. That was the one good thing about this, it wasn't like this relationship could really go any further. They were 'married', yeah, but that was more or less just a technicality, albeit one important to the strangely emotional Mikagami. But she was a spaceship, and he was a human, however enhanced he might have been. There was no way, he thought with a yawn, that anything could come of it, dropping off to sleep. As the pigtailed human fell asleep, a translucent, rainbow-colored figure appeared, floating above him, smiling down at him fondly. With a swirl, she vanished into Ranma Saotome's head. And in his dreams, the world turned.


	3. Moving In

"Speech"

'Thought'

X x x x x x

"I thought you knew." Airi gave her a confused look for a second, before smiling. "You were registered, and enrolled, as female."

"Say what now?" Ranma twisted her head to one side and blinked twice.

"Seto-sama requested that you be enrolled as a girl." Airi answered helpfully.

"Why?" She asked slowly.

"With Seto-sama, it's best not to ask questions, and just stay out of her way. Unfortunately, you and Seina-kun have fallen under her eyes. So if you want my advice, go along with what she asks, because resisting will only make her more interested."

"So, you want me to go to school, as a girl. Do you realize the problem I have with hot water?"

"Accidental changes you mean?" Airi asked, and Ranma nodded rapidly. "I wouldn't worry about that, those are made out of the newest fabrics, and will repel any water from touching you, even exposed skin. Within reason of course, if you try and go swimming in them, it won't work. Seto-sama kindly donated them for your use."

"You mean, I can stay a guy if I wear these?" Holding up the overcoat, she rubbed the fabric between her fingers. It was smooth like silk and didn't feel special at all.

"Of course, when not in class, you'll be free to be whichever form you please. Now go get changed." Airi came up behind her, and pushed Ranma back into the change room.

Planting her feet, she spun around to face the taller woman. "How long do I have to be at the school? Seto said she'd get me cured by someone named Washu."

"Hard to say, could be a few days, could be a couple weeks. Depends on what Washu-chan is up to." Airi answered, pushing her inside.

"And I need boxers." She pointed at the string bikini style panties laying off to the side. Female underwear seemed to work out poorly for her. It was just safer to stick with boxers.

"I'll be sure to have some male clothing sent to your room. But for now, figure it out yourself." The door slid closed again, leaving her alone.

Sitting down heavily on the seat, she set the clothes in her lap, and stared at the wall in front of her. 'I can be a girl for a couple weeks. A cure is worth that much, easily.' Removing her gi, she started to put on the supplied clothes. 'And I can still be a guy for the rest of the time, so it's not like the deal with the Chardins.' Floundering in the far too large clothing, she hit the button as instructed, and with a soft hissing noise, they tightened and conformed to her form perfectly.

"Wow, these are nice." Finding a button on the wall marked mirror, she pushed it, and a viewscreen popped up showing her reflection. "Better enjoy the view while I can." She smiled, posing a bit in front of the mirror.

Gathering up her gi, she exited the changing room, and found Seina being strangled by his clothes, as they constricted around his body too tightly. "Is this a common thing with you?" She asked, putting her face in the palm of one of her hands. Her current clothing was marginally better in her eyes, than the baby blue and white sailor like outfit Seina was wearing.

X x x x x x

"Alright Ranma, you can do this." Pacing in front of the deceptively simple green door, Ranma was having a sudden change of heart. Living as a girl for a couple weeks, and then getting a cure, peace of cake. Living as a girl for a couple weeks, with two female roommates, and then getting a cure. Well that just wasn't the same.

It really didn't help that Airi had sprung that one on her just before leaving her alone with the dorm assistant, an elderly but tall woman, who had shown her to the door. When would she be able to get some guy time in with two real girls around? And it wasn't like the male and female dorms were mixed at all, Seina was safely a quarter of a kilometer away. Ranma could only imagine what horrible things the unlucky boy might cause if confined to a small room with two other people.

First things first, she would get some sleep, her day being above and beyond in terms of excitement, had worn her out. Tomorrow there was some boring Academy entrance ceremony, a couple classes, and then she would find a nice place where she could be a guy and not cause problems. 'Least these special clothes work.'

They had transported to a planet within the rings of the space station. The GP Academy being part of a much larger Galactic Academy, it's facilities taking up an entire planet. Transporter tubes were used to ferry people between the other six planets that made up the rest of the Academy.

Being such a common technology, many of the people using them had been eating food and carrying drinks. Seina's bad luck struck again, which surprisingly ended with everyone else getting doused, while she had just gotten a mild spray. Which, thanks to the clothes, hadn't even gotten her wet.

Thinking back on it, the dorm was a strange place, the white stone building was spread out over a vast expanse of land, but trees and plants dominated the landscape. It was like the plants had been specifically grown so that they were part of the structures, rather than them being overgrown.

Shrugging away the strange architecture, Ranma raised a finger, placing it on a fingerprint reader, causing the door to her room slide open obediently. Inside, she guessed, the room was supposed to be clean and clinical like the GP ships. Instead, what she found was a mass of clothes and other random items strewn all over the floor.

The room itself had a green carpeted floor, save for a wooden sitting area directly in front of the door, with a low table positioned in the center. Off to the right were three beds, each one raising a step as they moved away from the door. Across from the beds were desks, simple looking tables raised up off the floor, with a small bench seat, being held up by a post off to one side. At the very top of the steps were a set of wooden cylinders that looked out of place with the rest of the room's decoration.

Spread out, with her body hanging half on, and half off of a bed, was an average looking black haired girl. Her hair was pulled into a loose ponytail at her shoulders, while the front trailed down to either side of her face. A blanket was wrapped around her body from spinning in her bed, and she was snoring softly. All that she was wearing, was a thin white tank top several sizes too big, and a pair of gray boxer shorts.

The other occupant to the room, appeared to be missing, and Ranma considered how best to approach this situation. This kind of situation screamed that someone would get the wrong idea. Glancing around overhead, she wondered where Akane might be off in the galaxy.

"Wait!" A girl suddenly shouted, running down the hall way, dressed in the female GP Academy uniform, consisting of the same outfit as the male, but with pink instead of blue. "No!" She cried dramatically, skidding to a stop next to Ranma, and towering over a full head taller than her. "You saw didn't you?" The strange girl had well tanned skin, triangle ears, and bright orange hair. She had an athletic build, and moved like someone who had been trained in combat.

"Saw what?" Ranma asked, confused over question, and stepping out of the way as the girl pushed roughly past her into the room, the door sliding shut in front of her. "Uh." Blinking several times, she figured that this must be the other roommate.

The door slid opened again, revealing the tall girl standing with her hands clasped in front of her hips, and smiling serenely. "Hello, you must be Ranma, please come in." Slipping to the side, the girl raised a hand to indicate that she should enter.

"Kay." She eyed the girl critically. "Saotome Ranma." She greeted.

"I'm Corina Taylor." The tall girl greeted happily. "And that's Adilynn Doley." She pointed at the still sleeping black haired girl. "Sorry I was in such a rush before, I was hoping to－ clean up the room a bit, and I wanted to make a good first impression." She finished with a nervous laugh.

"Meh, no problem." Ranma waved off the girl's concern. As long as she wasn't screaming 'Ranma prepare to die!' or 'Pig-tailed girl I love you!', then they would likely be fine. Although looking at the mess that the room was in, that might not be all the true, the urge to clean was rising suddenly.

"I suppose I'll give you the grand tour, don't worry about waking up Addy, she sleeps all the time." The door shut behind Ranma with a soft hiss. "Looks like they already sent your luggage." Corina pointed towards the group of four wooden cylinders, about half a meter in diameter and a meter in height, arrayed along the back wall.

"These are mine?" Ranma hopped up the steps to inspect the wooden contraptions.

"I don't envy you, that uniform might as well be a big target for the instructors."

Laying her hand on top of one of the containers, the top suddenly popped upwards until the entire center section had raised out of the sides. Folded neatly on three equally spaced shelves were duplicates of the pants she was wearing currently. "That solves my clothes problem." Ranma pushed back down on the top of the lid, and the shelves sunk back down into the cylinder.

"Those are a whole lot nicer than the stuff we get." Corina picked at the white hem of her shirt. "So, what planet are you from? I'm from Seniwa."

"Oh, Earth." She answered.

"No way!" Corina was suddenly in Ranma's face. "That's so cool! It's been all over the net for the past half a year, about how some guy from Earth managed to kill Kagato, THE KAGATO. There's even some rumors floating around that he has Princess Ayeka, the space pirate Ryoko, and even detective first class Mihoshi after him."

"Hold it." She held up her hands to silence the taller girl. "One, who's Kagato? Two, I have no clue who Ayeka and Ryoko are." Ranma resisted the urge to check to see if Mihoshi had entered the room magically.

"Oh!" realization swept over the pointed eared girl's face. "Earth is a developing planet, so you wouldn't know about them. He was a really bad guy who stole tons of expensive stuff, and killed everyone who got in his way."

"That does sound like a bad guy." Ranma commented, popping open another container, and finding more clothes, and a couple pairs of shoes. A pair of white sneakers, and another set of more formal looking black ones.

"Anyways, I'm not sure how you don't know about Princess Ayeka, but she was setup to be the next Queen of Jurai, up until Ryoko attacked Jurai and took out half their fleet, and the future King Yosho ran off to fight her and never returned. Jurai's all hush hush about it, but Addy was able to hack into their system, and found out about it."

"You still owe me that X19-J you promised." Adilynn moaned from her bed, not moving.

"I swear you'll get it." Corina rolled her eyes.

"What's that?" Ranma asked, opening up another container.

"A way out of date computer part, Addy's a collector."

"Ah." When she opened up a small container, something quickly flew out of it, making a quick sweep around the room, before returning to hover in the air directly in front of her.

"Finally!" The small burgundy ball announced happily in a synthesized voice that was neither male or female. "I thought you would never let me out."

"What are you?" Ranma demanded, poking at the floating device.

"I am your personal assistant." The ball dipped in the air as a strange sort of bow. "I have been ordered to assist you with any issues you may have with acclimating yourself to life outside of your developing world, as well as with your studies here at the Academy, by Seto-sama."

"Seto-sama? THE Seto-sama? The Devil Princess?" Corina gaped.

"That's the one." Ranma answered. "So what are you? Some kind of computer?" She tried to view the ball from different angles. It was highly reflective, without any break to the surface. The only variations in color were darker and lighter splotches of color, creating a wood grain pattern.

"Yes, I am a personal education and instruction node, or more commonly refereed to by the acronym, P.E.I.N."

"She must really like you to send something like this." Corina caught the ball in her hand, to get a good look at it.

"Why's that?" Ranma asked.

"Last I heard, these were for Jurai eyes only, these aren't even supposed to be seen or talked about off a Jurai ship. They do pretty much anything."

"Unhand me you Seniwan giant! I am the property of Miss Ranma, and will not be treated in such a barbaric way!" The burgundy ball cried out angrily.

"So how would you know that then?" Ranma wondered, Corina releasing the angry ball to fly behind Ranma's back. She couldn't be sure, but it seemed like the device was glaring at Corina.

"I'm hoping to be a detective, information gathering is one of my talents." Corina explained.

"So what do I call you?" Ranma turned to address the device.

"Whatever you wish." It answered.

"Uh." Ranma's mouth quirked to one side, she had made fun of Akane so much for her lame name for Ryoga's cursed form, but now faced with naming something herself, it was harder than she thought. "How bought just Pein?" (1)

"That would be acceptable." The computer now known as Pein replied curtly. "Is there anything I can assist you with?"

"Um, no, I think I'm fine."

"I'm just giving her a tour." Corina added.

"Am I correct in that classes will begin tomorrow?" Pein asked.

"Yes." Ranma answered.

"Then if you do not need me for information, I will put myself in sleep mode."

"Sure." She shrugged, watching Pein dip in the air like a bow, before flying over and settling into a spot hovering over one of the corners of the top of her desk.

"Anyways, the room is pretty simple, bed, desk with computer, dresser, and up front we got a tv." Dropping herself at the low table, Corina pulled up a meter wide viewscreen. "You order cafeteria food through here, it tells you what vitamins and whatever you're missing, and suggests what you should get. Don't use it to order out, the prices are ridiculous."

"Ah, and over here's the bathroom." Hopping to her feet, Corina hit a button on the wall to open up the door to the left of the entrance.

Ranma paused in the door way, the rectangular room was simple enough. On the wall to the right were two vertical half cylinders like the transport tubes. One of which looked like it opened from this side, but the other appeared to be the backside for one in another room.

"It's not much, but it has its uses." Corina approached the tube. "This is the shower and laundry tube. I doubt you'd have these on Earth, it uses little nano-machines to clean you, even with your clothes on."

"No water?" Ranma raised an eyebrow at the machine. Aside from the trio of faucets for washing hands, with a wide mirror against the far wall from the entrance, there was no way to get hit by hot water in the room. She frowned at the counter next to the sink which was covered with a veritable sea of cosmetics.

"Nope, I've been using a local bathhouse, but Addy uses this cause she's lazy. Do you have bathhouses on Earth?"

"Yea." Ranma answered, reading the control panel for the washing machine.

"Good, it'll be nice to have some company."

"Uh, no no no, can't do that." Ranma waved her hands in warding. The last couple times she had gone to a public bathhouse, had been an exercise in fighting off an excited Happosai. A couple weeks and she wouldn't be here, living as a girl for that long would be a stretch as it was, she didn't need to add to that by explaining the curse. Well maybe if she figured out that they wouldn't freak out about it, but for now she would have to put up with it.

"Some Earth modesty thing?" The GP cadet asked.

"Yea that's it, real modest." Ranma laughed nervously.

"Oh, sorry if I made you uncomfortable." Shrugging, Corina passed her towards the main room. "That's the tour, let's get some food!" She announced dramatically.

X x x x x x

"You sure do eat a lot for being so little." Corina commented to her, and Ranma just smacked her lips together in response. The food had been eatable, and she had eaten three trays of the stuff. "You shouldn't get so much though, you only have a set number of meals a week without having to pay for it."

"Really?" She asked, sitting up straighter on her cushion next to the low table. "How many?"

"It works out to be two everyday if you want to spread it out over the week."

"Yuck, so little." Ranma frowned, earning a snicker from Adilynn.

The sleeping girl had dragged herself over from her bed, the lowest of the three, in order to get food. She didn't talk much, and seemed to have a bored detachment to everything. Ranma really didn't know how to act towards the girl. Quiet and reserved people set her on edge, who knew what they were thinking. Corina on the other hand, was talkative, friendly, and inquisitive. Mostly about things on Earth, since she had never been to a developing planet.

A loud beeping noise caused Corina to stand up immediately at attention and bring her right hand up in salute. Adilynn did the same, though with far less urgency, while Ranma just remained in her seat, confused over their actions. Across the table, a pair of women in the black GP instructor uniforms appeared floating in mid air. The one on the left was Amane, while the other was a normal looking woman, except for the flat circular dark brown nose, and elf like ears.

Both of Ranma's roommates repeated their names, Corina glanced down at her and jerked her head several times. Grudgingly, Ranma stood up. "Saotome Ranma." She said without saluting.

"Initiating check." The unknown instructor began, both of them raising their hands to cause four small viewscreens a piece to pop up. Three running vertically in front of them, with the fourth off to the right of the middle. Around Ranma's feet a glowing ring formed, and before she had realized it, the light had passed over her head, and disappeared.

"Good, you're all here." Amane's ghostly form said without enthusiasm.

"Tomorrow is the Academy's entrance ceremony at nine am. Be sure to get plenty of sleep and look your best." The unknown instructor added, the two forms and their viewscreens fading from view a second later.

"Why do they even bother doing that?" Adilynn asked, flopping back down on her cushion. "They have scanners in the room that could do it in about a tenth of a second."

"Meh, just another thing to get us into the military mindset." Corina answered. "Everyday the same time, till we graduate."

"I'm going back to bed." Adilynn grabbed her discarded bedsheet and flopped lifelessly on to her bed.

Getting up to follow suit, Ranma was full, it was a long day, and she just wanted to get some nice uninterrupted rest. Corina's hand snaked out and grabbed her by the wrist. "Ah ah ah, no sleep for tonight."

"Huh, why?" Ranma really wasn't interested in an adventure at the moment.

"We're heading into town to get some night life." The Seniwa born girl, gyrated a bit in place. "It's your first night on a new planet, don't you want to see what's here?"

"I'll pass." Ranma had been to enough bars following her old man, she didn't think space ones would be any more interesting.

"That's no fun, there's a big party or festival every night. Oh well, if you don't want to go."

"Festival?" Ranma paused, she did like to go to festivals.

"Yup, there are thousands of races that live on the planet, they all have their own big holidays. Pick any night of the week, and you can find something."

"I guess I can stay up a while longer." She conceded.

X x x x x x

"What are you doing?" Ranma asked, peeking over Corina's arm as the taller girl rapidly typed with one hand on a keyboard and small viewscreen that were hovering over the top of her wrist.

"It's a closed campus, so if you want to leave, then you have to hack into the system to open the door. Addy might a lazy bum, but you can't beat her for hacking into stuff, got her to show me how to do this." Hitting one last button with finality, the large double sided arched door they were standing in front of, opened outwards. "Took me longer than usual, seems like a lot of people are heading out for tonight. Come on before it closes."

Ranma ran after Corina, the tall girl running through the door at a good pace. "So what would have happened if you got it wrong?" She asked as they ducked through a forest with thick trees.

"The security bots are alerted."

"Security bots?"

"Yea, they're these red octopus looking things, if you see one run away."

"Why?" Ranma asked, glancing around for anything red, and being suitably happy with how her clothes were performing.

"They shoot these stick on tattoo's, you'll see a bunch of the guys with them tomorrow I bet. If you get one of those in a place you can't hide, you won't be leaving your room until you get it off."

"Well what is it?"

"I cannot adequately describe how bad it is." Corina leveled a serious gaze at her. "Suffice it to say, mind scarring comes to mind."

"I'll take your word for it." Ranma nodded, coming to a stop at the edge of the tree line. In front of them was a warehouse, with a large close metal garage door, and a normal sized door off to the side. From inside of the building, she could hear a group of males yelling.

"Damn, looks like some of students went this way." Corina brought up her wrist computer. "Wow, we're not going that way, it's filled with security bots." There was a loud whirring noise, and a flying car burst through the metal door, it's top being ripped off, exposing a trio of screaming guys. "Ah! The patrol car I stashed in there!" Corina cried out in sorrow, the car swerving towards them.

"Better get on then." Ranma shouted, leaping into the air, to come down in the back seat. Corina followed easily, dropping into the front.

"Who are you?" A boy with bright red hair and blue eyes asked, hanging on tightly to the headrest of the drivers seat.

"You idiots stole the car I had stashed." Corina crossed her arms angrily.

"Sorry!" A familiar voice apologized from the drivers seat.

"Oh no." Ranma looked horrified at Seina driving the car.

"Seina pay attention!" A brown furred Wau shook Seina's shoulder, the car starting to wobble horribly.

"Sorry! I don't have a license!"

"I take it back, we should not have gotten on." Ranma told Corina, looking for a seat belt.

"Use the auto pilot, you moron." Corina reached forward and hit a button on the center of the steering wheel. Immediately the car leveled out and smoothly moved through the trees. "So which one of you set off the security bots?"

"I did at first." The Wau admitted.

"So where are you two lovely ladies going tonight?" The red haired human asked, running a hand slowly through his hair. "I'm Kenneth Barr."

"Wherever fate takes us." Corina's eyes shifted to the strange mark on Kenneth's face, and she let out a brief shriek. "Gah! Warn people when you get those things!" She averted her eyes.

"Got what?" Ranma asked, looking at the guy's face, and seeing the most horrible image she had ever seen in her life on the guys right cheek. "What in the world is that! She recoiled, thinking that not even Cologne and Happosai naked together could come close to how horrible it was.

"It's hopeless." Kenneth bowed his head, and used a hand to hide the mark.

"I'm Rajau Ga Waura." The Wau greeted, also hiding his right cheek with a clawed hand.

"You two should head back, no one is going to want you around with those things." Corina commented.

"Don't worry, I got a great idea." Rajau answered.

"So where are you going?" Ranma asked, hoping that Seina would be going far far the other way.

"Wherever fate takes us." Kenneth answered, wagging his eyebrows at Corina.

"Cute." Corina answered sarcastically. "Well, since you stole my air car, I guess we'll be traveling into town together."

"Is that it?" Ranma asked, looking through a row of trees running alongside the six lane road. Past the trees was an impressively large circular city. Tiered levels approached the center, where a tall tower stood twice as tall as the tallest building. Hanging over top of the city was a ring with small buildings on it, and then a half and quarter ring further up the tower.

"That's it, Ahmeek, the most populated city on the planet, and cultural hub." Rajau answered.

"Let's hurry! I don't want to miss the best parties!" Kenneth leaned forward and pointed down the road.

X x x x x x

"That's－ your great idea?" Ranma put her face in the palm of her right hand. "Just how low are the GP's standards?" She asked Corina.

"Every organization has to have its low level grunts." The orange haired girl replied, looking just as disgusted. "Very low level." She amended, looking at Kenneth and Rajua, both having donned paper shopping bags to cover their faces. The only visible portion of their faces, being the eye holes.

"If you're jealous, we could get more." Rajua offered helpfully.

"I think this might be a good time for us to go our separate ways." Corina answered the Wau. "Don't you think Ranma?"

"You got a camera?" She asked.

"Ya know what." Kenneth's voice was muffled by the bag. "If you two are going to be such sticks in the mud, then we'll just have to cut you loose! Isn't that right guys?" Rajua nodded in response, while Seina looked lost.

"You're not keeping the car that I had ready for tonight." Corina pointed out.

"Can we still have a ride back?" Kenneth asked, shifting from outraged to apologetic.

"Fine." Corina waved a hand. "But we'll be heading back around one."

"But that's when the best parties start!" Rajau cried dramatically.

"Someone has to act responsibly, I can't exactly expect the two Earthlings to know what's going on." Corina pointed to her and Seina. Ranma pouted, thinking that she certainly wasn't a kid.

"Come on Seina, let's get away from these two buzz kills." Kenneth grabbed Seina around the shoulders and physically hauled the other Earthling off down the busy street. Rajau following quickly behind.

"Oi." Ranma drew Corina's attention. "Don't treat me like a kid."

"Did I? I'm sorry." The tall girl apologized. "I just meant to say that."

"I grew up traveling all over the place, so I'm not some stupid tourist who'll get excited over the smallest thing." She interrupted, crossing her arms.

"You're right, stupid me." Corina laughed nervously for a moment. "We better get going if we don't want to be late."

"Where are we going anyways?"

"A festival celebrating some deity, it doesn't really matter. I just have it on a reliable source that this is the best happening tonight."

"Ah." Nodding her head, a store window caught her eye, and she rushed over to press her face against the glass. "What's this?" She asked excitedly, eying the high technology behind the glass, and not understanding what they did.

"Those are music players."

"Ooh how about these?" She shot over to another shop.

"Kids toys."

"What about these?" Ranma shot over to another shop.

"I thought you said you weren't a tourist?"

X x x x x x

"Wha－ what kin of drinks were dos?" Ranma slurred, staggering through the door of her dorm room while being supported by Corina. The light switched on automatically, showing an empty room, Adylinn having disappeared in the several hours they had been gone.

"Nalumor soda." Corina answered. "And I told you to take it easy with those."

"They were free." She shot back. "It would a been an－ a insult to refuse."

"They were also alcoholic."

"You mean, I'm dwunk?" Walking unsteadily up to the top most bed, which had been the last available. Ranma stripped down to just her long sleeved shirt and boxers, before falling face first on the surprisingly comfortable cot.

This wasn't the first time she had been drinking, no that was when being trained in drunk-fu. Of course, that required an incredibly large amount to be ingested quickly, to the point that most of the fight and training was forgotten. Actually being conscious of her own, intoxication, was a novel experience.

"It'll be fine, it's called soda because it doesn't give you a hang over." Corina explained, slipping off her shoes. A moment later, the door slid open, and Adylinn walked in while rapidly typing with one hand on a small computer viewscreen on her wrist.

"You're back." The black haired girl looked up long enough to notice them. "Good thing, they just had me crank up the security protocols."

"Why?" Corina asked, hitting the control node to unsize her clothes. Ranma was confused over the action for a second, her mental facilities taking a moment to realize that the tall girl was going to undress. Gulping audibly, she blushed, and turned her head in the other direction.

"Some guy named Seiryo threw a fit over all the alerts earlier. So I just setup the security bots to patrol at random intervals, and respond to all door activations regardless of the code." Adylinn dropped unceremoniously on her bed.

"You know you just effectively killed off any trips into town." Corina pointed out crossly.

"I'm still waiting for my X19-J." Was Adylinn's response.

X x x x x x

'Can't sleep.' Ranma dragged herself down to the table. The lights were off, save for a single bar running across the ceiling of the hallway door wall, acting as a night light. In her stupor she had fallen asleep, unfortunately, when the alcohol had been worked out of her system, she had woken up, and was unable to return to slumber.

'Which button is it?' Fumbling with the nearly invisible buttons on the table, she finally found the one to bring up the phone. 'Gah what is that number again?' Slowly entering in the numbers, a meter wide viewscreen popped into view, saying that it was dialing.

"Come on, someone pick up." She insisted, rapidly tapping on the side of the table. It had finally hit her just how far from home she was. This wasn't a trip to China, this was a trip to some distant part of the galaxy, and the only way to go back for good was to let someone play around inside of her head. Finally after ten rings the viewscreen stopped ringing and asked if she wanted to dial again.

"I'll try again in a minute." Ranma laid her head down on the table. "Gotta be late there too."

BEEP BEEP BEEP

"Ack!" Ranma sat straight up from where she had fallen asleep on the table. "I'm up old man." She said groggily, her head bobbing lightly, before falling bonelessly backwards.

"Stupid alarm clock!" Corina shouted, and something heavy slammed into the wall behind a viewscreen displaying the time.

'Oh right, no stupid panda to wake me up.' Ranma blinked several times, sitting up and scratching at an inch above her left breast. Adilynn was still sleeping, apparently the overly loud alarm, and follow up shout from Corina having not affected her.

"Eh, Ranma, why did you sleep there?" Corina asked in a much calmer voice, slipping her feet out of the bed, and scratching at the side of her head.

"No reason." She answered.

Another beep from the table, signaled a human height viewscreen to pop up, showing the elderly woman Ranma had seen standing beside Airi's desk. "Attention all cadets, this is a reminder that the Academy entrance ceremony will be held at nine. All students are required to attend." Message finished, the viewscreen vanished.

"I'm going to go get cleaned up." Corina said on her way to the bathroom, a GP uniform slung over one arm.

"Miss Ranma, might I suggest that you have breakfast?" Pein supplied helpfully, swinging into view in front of Ranma.

"Ack!" Ranma brought her hands up in warding, before dropping them. "Don't do that."

"I apologize, it was not my intent to startle."

"Just give a little warning next time." Ranma glowered, thinking that the small device was worse than a cat for sneaking up on people.

"I will decrease the auditory dampeners on my propulsion device, so that you notice my arrival with more ease." Pein said with an apologetic tone.

"Sure, do that." Ranma answered without knowing what the ball was talking about.

"Shall we see what dishes are available?" Pein floated over to hover just off of the table, and the menu came up. The viewscreen quickly shifted to a readout of nutrients and other things that she didn't recognize. "It appears that you are getting the needed caloric intake for your metabolism. Though you are missing many of the nutrients your body needs."

"What are you talking about? I eat pretty good."

"You eat enough, but what you eat is wrong."

"And what should I be eating?" Ranma crossed her arms.

"Any of the standard meals here will provide the necessary vitamins and minerals. Earth's medical knowledge is, if you forgive the term, in what would be called the dark ages. You should however use specialty meals until your system has closed to within two to three percent of the optimal amount." Pein explained. "Shall I order your meal?"

"Go ahead." A second later, a tray of food appeared in front of Ranma.

"My databank indicates that you are to wear formal wear for this entrance ceremony."

Pausing in eating, Ranma turned to glare at Pein. "If by formal, you mean a big frilly dress, then no."

"If you would like to wear one, that can be arranged, your storage compartments have been filled with various clothing to help facilitate your new life as part of the Jurai military."

"No dress." Ranma pointed her chopsticks at the ball, Pein floating off towards the back of the room, only to pause halfway.

"It is my understanding that your culture on Earth has clothing similar to Jurai formal wear. My databank says that they are called－ kimono, would that be acceptable?"

"No." Ranma replied, and Pein bowed before heading off. Without knowing what some space kimono looked like, she wasn't going to agree to wear one. 'Wait why am I worrying about making a half hearted commitment to some floating ball? Bah!'

"Morning." Adilynn dropped down next to Ranma, and quickly called up food.

"Mornin." Ranma replied, quickly finishing her food, and headed off to get dressed. In the back she found that Pein was able to lift and move about objects somehow, and the device had laid out clothes on her cot. "What else can you do?" She wondered.

"My abilities are limited in terms of physical acts. Though I am able to lift objects weighing less than five kilograms. My primary task is to provide information to you, and assist you in becoming acclimated to life off a developing planet."

"Yea yea I get it, help me get used to living in space." Waving a hand dismissively, Ranma didn't mind the clothes that had been laid out. A pair of gray pants, a red shirt like she was wearing now, but with a darker red border. Laying across the shirt was a thing gray obi. "What's this?" Ranma picked up a different piece of clothing, and held it at arms length.

"Jurai ceremonial dress includes a cloak or cape." Pein answered. "You are free to dress as you please, of course."

"I'm not really big into capes." Ranma dropped the cloak back on the bed.

"While you are free to wear whatever you wish, might I suggest that you wear it this once? As a representative of Jurai, you should look your best."

"And－ these." Ranma pointed to the pair of panties that were also laid out. Motioning with a finger for Pein to come closer she continued in a whisper. "Airi said she was sending down male clothes, I want boxers."

"I am sorry, I had assumed you would wear garments appropriate to your form. I will retrieve them at once." Hovering over to the canisters, Pein activated controls on the top ring, causing ten buttons to appear, each with a number on them.

"Hey wait, how does that work?" She asked, not wanting to have Pein be her personal slave, even though the device seemed built to serve.

"As you wish, these luggage containers work off a subspace storage system. The buttons on top indicate which of the ten subspace compartments you wish to bring forward. "

"Sounds easy enough."

"Adilynn! Why aren't you getting dressed?" Corina suddenly chided Adilynn, who was leisurely eating breakfast. "We have to be there in ten minutes." Now dressed in her pink and white uniform, Corina adjusted a cylindrical hat with the English letter K printed to be over the left eye.

"It starts at nine, it's only eight fifteen." Adilynn continued to eat her food slowly.

"Which will give us thirty five minutes to get in good with the professors."

"Suck up." Adilynn sniped, and proceeded to turn the viewscreen over the table into a television.

"Honestly." Corina shook her head. "Least you're getting ready."

"Not much else to do is there?" Ranma shrugged.

"Fair enough." Corina shrugged and sat down to get something to eat.

"Miss Ranma, might I also suggest that you wear your hair differently." Pein suggested.

"I like my pigtail."

"Jurai custom states that to appear masculine one's hair is pulled back in a single braid, while to appear feminine requires two." Pein continued.

"I'm fine with a pigtail."

"Of course, but might I suggest a simple ponytail."

Ranma leveled a neutral gaze at the ball. "How much trouble would I get in if I threw you through a wall?"

"You would be in trouble with the academy for causing damage to the dorm facilities. There would be minimal damage to myself, but I would have to report your action to Seto-sama."

"How bout this, I do this this once, I'll wear the cape, put my hair in a ponytail, and maybe act all prim and proper, if you never ask me to do it again."

"A bargain? I believe I would have to add the stipulation that you abide by Jurai traditions in circumstances that require it. There are several ceremonies you may partake which require strict adherence to Jurai formal dress standards."

"I get final say for everything else? You won't keep bugging me about it?"

"That is acceptable."

"I know I'm going to regret this."

X x x x x x

"Is it me, or is everyone looking at me?" Ranma asked Adilynn, standing with the black haired girl in the very back row of the assembly. Neither of them had been in a hurry for the assembly, and Ranma hoped it would be over quickly. Taking a guess, she figured there were a thousand or so cadets standing in two groups, divided into male and female, in a vast hallway. Every so often, heads would turn back to give her dirty or inquisitive looks.

"You do kind of stand out."

"You're right about that." She groaned, glancing down at her chest, and sighing.

The cloak she was wearing was a deep green, with a beige stripe running down from the four corners of the square neck the front and back from the corners of the square collar. The sides were split from the padded shoulders down to the bottom, and there was a neck wide space in the front, a gold chain binding the two sides at the top. There were other bands of color that broke up the main colors, but Ranma hadn't spent a great deal of time examining it.

As a plus, if her hair wasn't done up in such a feminine looking ponytail, the cloak would have hid her body, and she could have passed for a guy. That is if she wasn't close to a head shorter than most of the people she was standing next to. Which really made being at the assembly a worthless gesture.

Rolling her eyes upwards, she examined the tall arched windows leading up to the bark of the tree that grew the immense hall. If anything, it reminded her of a church, rather than something one would find at a school. The light level was high, and all the windows were open, allowing fresh air to freely flow through the hall.

Looking over at the male students, Ranma had trouble resisting the urge to laugh. Most of them had been caught by the upgraded security system, and had received several of those horrific tattoos for their trouble. Several soft thumps echoed through the hall, indicating that someone was adjusting a microphone, which instantly drew the attention of the assembled students.

"Welcome everyone to the GP Academy."

Ranma leaned to the side and was able to see down a lane of bodies to see, Mikami, the elderly Kuramitsu she had met on the immigration station. She was standing behind a podium at the far side of the room. "This academy was created as a short-term training course, to instruct GP cadets on how to preserve the peace of the galaxy, and protect the welfare of the people."

Standing near to Mikami was a group of men and women wearing the teachers uniform. Amane was in the group, and Ranma could see Kiriko as well. Standing off by himself, with a microphone on a stand in front of him, was Seiryo, his forehead wrapped in bandages, and a sour look on his face.

"Therefore, our curriculum also consists of on the job training. There is no doubt many of you here will find the training very difficult. Yet I pray with all my heart that all of you GP cadets before me today, will graduate from this academy as model GP officers. Never lose hope and never quit working hard, so that one day you too, will become a fine officer. Good luck!" Mikami finished her speech by saluting the assembled students. Shrugging, Ranma returned the salute with the rest of the cadets, she was too tired to be rebellious.

"Next is the freshmen speech, chosen to be presented to you by the freshmen representative, Yamada Seina." Seiryo announced.

"Why does it have to be Seina." Ranma groaned.

"So that's who they were talking about when I went in to do the security change." Adilynn nodded to herself.

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked, several girls around them twisting to listen better.

"Pink boy was trying to get you to be the class representative."

"Me? Why me?"

"I dunno, he was yelling a lot, and I wasn't paying much attention." (2)

"In that case, better Seina than me." Frowning, Ranma leaned over to see Seina fumbling with the microphone. "Maybe not." She thought, feeling a growing sense of doom. Seina drew back and took a deep breath, the speakers suddenly humming to life even from her position in the back of the room.

X x x x x x

"WHAT?" Ranma said far too loudly, an incessant ringing masking what was being said to her. The woman dressed in what looked like a medical uniform patted her on the shoulder, before bringing up a pen shaped object and shining it into her ear. Almost immediately the ringing in one ear abated. The woman quickly shifted and did the same on her other ear.

"Can you hear me?" The nurse asked.

"YEA－ ah, yea I can." Ranma answered, using a pinkie to dig at an ear, breaking up the dried blood that had collected due to a broken ear drum. "Thanks."

"Looks like classes will be delayed, you should return to your room." The nurse instructed, heading off to help another student.

"Gotcha." She said to the woman's back, and redid her ponytail, which had come undone in the explosion.

Getting to her feet, Ranma dusted herself off as best she could. Seina's bad luck had struck once again, turning the speakers into what amounted to a sound bomb. Not only has there been an ear drum shattering roar, but the rapid expanse of air had created a wind tunnel effect. Even though Ranma's ears now functioned properly now, there was still a hollow throbbing in her skull.

Choosing to get some fresh air and explore, Ranma walked past several maintenance groups already cleaning up the debris that had been thrown around. Walking through the campus was like waking through a park. Bird like creatures were everywhere, as well as small furry animals, and even some reptile based ones.

A soft beeping from her wrist, made Ranma pull her arms out from underneath the cloak, and push the button on the bottom of the wrist. In response, a small viewscreen popped up, displaying Mikami's image. "Attention students, due to a computer failure, select classes will be held until it is repaired. The only class for today will be Physical Education, please check your schedule for the time you will attend." Message complete, the viewscreen shut off.

"Looks like things are looking up." Ranma smiled to herself. "Let's see, how did Pein say how to work this thing again." Thinking about the class schedule, she hit the button again, instantly a viewscreen popped up displaying a calender. The days were listed horizontally, with the time vertically, and class blocks listed in their correct spots. "Ha! Super advanced technology zero, Ranma one."

"About four hours to kill, guess I could try calling Earth again, and take a nap." Strolling casually back through the campus, Ranma found her spirits raising slightly. Things were looking up for the currently ponytailed girl. While she had joined accidentally, this might turn out to be a good career. Wasn't like she had ever thought about it much. Teaching wasn't her thing, and helping to make the Galaxy safe sounded far more rewarding, not to mention exciting.

X x x x x x

Unclipping the clasp holding her cloak in place, Ranma dropped it on to her bed. Pein protested that she needed to keep it folded correctly. He buzzed around and quickly did it for her, explaining as he did how to do it. Black hair came down next, to be quickly put back into a pigtail. Both of her roommates were out, Adilynn having been called to help with the computer system, and Corina had never came back to the room.

"It's too bad classes were canceled for the day." Pein followed her as she went to try and phone Earth again.

"I'll survive." She sat down in front of the table and pulled up the main display. Rapidly becoming acclimated to the simple computer systems, she hit the number in for the Tendo home. Two rings later, and Kasumi answered the phone.

"Hey Kasumi." She greeted the eldest sister.

"Ranma, aren't you out in space?" Kasumi gave the phone a confused look.

"Well yea, but they have these telephones that work somehow through space." She explained. "I can even see you."

"See me?"

"Yea, look up and to the left a bit, is there anything there?"

"No, there's nothing there." Kasumi gave her phone a confused glance.

"Oh well, is anyone else around? I need to talk to my old man about something."

"I'm the only one here at the moment, Uncle Saotome ran away when this woman claiming to be your mother showed up earlier."

"So she wasn't just some crazy lady." Ranma mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, listen, I may be back on Earth in a couple weeks so I'll try and stop by then. But I'll call again later."

"I'll let everyone know that you called." Kasumi said before Ranma hit the disconnect button.

"Sheesh, if I didn't know better, I'd think they were avoiding me." Standing up, Ranma stretched out, and yawned. "You mind waking me up about fifteen minutes before gym?" She asked Pein. "I feel like taking a nap."

"Of course Miss Ranma."

X x x x x x

"Alright line up, line up! Five rows of five ladies!"

Ending up in the middle, Ranma was looking forward to getting some exercise. The teacher for this class was a woman with dark blue hair cut short in front but longer in the back. Wearing a gray track suit, she was currently reading the roster from a clear plastic clipboard.

Glancing around, Ranma was a bit disappointed to see that there were nothing but girls in the class, but hoped that one or two of them might actually give her a challenge. She was dressed with green track pants, and a tighter white cotton t-shirt. The rest of the students had pink track pants, and a white t-shirt with a pink border going horizontally across the top.

They had met on the north side of a track three fourths of a kilometer in length.

"Good, everyone is here. I am Sayu Orihara. As you all know thanks to a little issue with the computer system, which also limits what we can do to purely outside activities until it is fixed. Let's begin with a light warm up. Ten laps around the track, fifty pushups and situps, begin!"

Starting off at a light jog, Ranma immediately found herself staring at the backs of the other students as they rocketed off down the track. 'Woah, they're all pretty fast.' Increasing her pace, Ranma was able to catch up and keep pace easily enough. Finishing the ten laps in five minutes, Ranma was lightly winded at the end. Running over seven kilometers at a dead sprint wasn't part of her normal work out. (3)

No one else seemed to have this problem, as they quickly started to do pushups at a similar fast pace. Not wanting to be shown up, she quickly worked twice as fast as everyone else. Done with pushups in about five seconds, she took a moment to take a breath before rolling on to her back for sit ups.

"Saotome." The teacher came to stand over her. "It says in my file that you aren't bodily enhanced."

Pausing, she answered. "So?" Glancing around, she quickly realized that she was behind again.

"Nothing, it's just very impressive that you're able to keep up. If something is too much you don't have to do it."

"Yea right." She scoffed at the idea, finishing slightly behind the other students.

"It's your choice." Sayu shrugged. "Alright, stretch yourselves out and we'll get into a real work out."

X x x x x x

Corina sat watching television, while sipping from a cup of hot tea. The Academy hadn't even started with classes yet, and she was already itching to get to the hands on experience. She just knew that actual classes were going to be far too simplistic to keep her attention. At least her roommates were good. She had known Adylinn for over a year before joining the Academy. Ranma was fun to hang around with, she far closer to her own personality than the lazy Adylinn.

Speaking of Ranma, the door slid open to reveal the Earthling in her gym clothing. The short girl looked positively beat, dragging her feet like she had just completed the Academies physical fitness exam twice over.

"You alright?" Corina asked.

"Ha! I didn't need no body enhancing." Ranma smiled deliriously and then gave a few quick scary laughs.

"Maybe you should lay down for a bit." She suggested, eying the black haired girl warily.

"Maybe I will." Ranma staggered up to and collapsed on her cot.

'Earthlings are a little off.' She thought to herself.

X x x x x x

Author Notes:

1 – Pronounced like "pine" tree.

2 - Ranma being a citizen of Jurai, and not an official part of the GP, cannot be the GP class representative.

3 – About 90 km per hour or 55 miles per hour.


	4. Green

"Speech"

'Thought'

#Panda sign#

X x x x x x

"This sucks!" Ranma laid her head down on her desk. The class she had to help her acclimate to life in space was not canceled due to the computers being fried. It had been three days since then, and the system still wasn't back up and running. The book she had been given for the class looked like a folder, with the pages appearing inside, controlled by small buttons on the button that went forward, backwards, or to a specific page.

Currently she was struggling to understand how the power sources for ships and planets actually worked. Everything about it was so far beyond anything she had even heard of on Earth. Gym remained difficult, while able to keep up with the rest of the students. They seemed to have an impossible level of endurance. That was fine, she was happy to have an actually physically demanding environment.

Jusenkyo was easy enough to keep under wraps. Only twice had she been hit with hot water, and with the special clothes, the water hadn't touched her. She had spent time in her male form yesterday. The only problem with that was how several students had been inquisitive to who the other person from Jurai was. So if she was going to do it again, she would try to find clothing that didn't automatically scream Jurai.

"Trouble?" Adilynn asked from her seat in front of the television. Corina was out at her gym class, and would be back in a few minutes.

"This stuff is impossible." She moaned, any of her former classes at Furinkan were easy by comparison.

"Why don't you ask Pein for help?" Her roommate suggested. "Isn't that it's job?"

"I would but he's just so smug about it." She glanced at the orb sitting over top the far side of the desk. Two days of listening to the device explain things that were considered simple here, and she had purposely told him to shut off until she called for him. The sheer amount of condescending attitude Pein could create was impressive.

"It shouldn't be all that difficult, you just need to start with something you can understand and work up."

"Ugh, I'm going to take a break." Stretching her arms up over her head and arching her back, she heard a satisfying crack. Hopping down the steps, she was going to head out the door when the television switched to the telephone line. Adilynn hit the accept button, and a familiar mint haired woman appeared on the viewscreen.

"Ah Ranma, just who was looking for." Seto said without any kind of hello. "How are your studies going?"

"Good." She answered with a nervous glance back at the book she had been reading.

"Wonderful, I heard about the problems they've been having with the computer system, and I received word from Washu-chan that she would be able to take a look at you anytime."

"Really?" Ranma asked excitedly.

"Yes." Seto confirmed. "I will stop by the Academy tomorrow at noon to pick you up. See you then." Without a chance to respond, the screen clicked off of telephone and back to television.

"You get to see Washu-sama?" Adilynn asked, looking at her with little stars in her eyes.

"Er- yes." She answered.

Adilynn quickly looked away and coughed into her hand. "I'll hate you forever if you don't ask her to contact me."

"What's so great about this Washu?" Ranma asked, this being the first time she had seen Adilynn actually worked up about anything.

"She's only the greatest mind in all the universe, who created the basis for every computer system in use today!" Adilynn announced dramatically.

"Alright alright, I'll be sure to tell her to give you a call."

"Thank you." The dark haired girl returned to watching the television without enthusiasm.

"No problem." She answered.

X x x x x x

Passing through an arched doorway into the lounge at the entry to the dorms, Ranma was taking time to enjoy the pleasant and ever present atmosphere the planet had. Her book had explained that the power plants which fueled everything, were also strong enough to regulate the weather. Nights were only cold enough to require a full sleeved shirt, days were warm enough to wear little clothing, but not hot enough to be uncomfortable.

Her current clothing was an orange short sleeved shirt in what she had rapidly decided was the 'Jurai-style', and black pants. They weren't water resistant, but she didn't like wearing the same clothes all the time. Dropping down on to a plush couch, Ranma stretched out, and closed her eyes. A fountain in the middle of the circular room was giving off a soothing white noise. Another noise was not so soothing, Seina's voice was that noise, and it caused her to sit up straight and watch the other Earthling move through the room towards the gym field.

Seina was with his two roommates, all three were dressed in blue and white gym uniforms. None of them realized that she was in the room as they passed. Never having seen what Seina could do physically, she rose from the couch, and followed the group. Neither of the other two were of interest, they would be body enhanced, and would have abilities close to her own.

Settling down on the grassy slope that bordered the track area, Ranma grimaced at who was the teacher. "How can they let that pink haired idiot be a teacher?" She asked herself out loud. Seiryo, had become a small thorn in her side. At least once a day he would bother her about something trivial, this usually ended with her bouncing his head off the wall. He was resilient though, likely from having other people do the same thing to him repeatedly.

"Yamada Seina!" Seiryo yelled loud enough for her to hear him. "You have failed to do the assigned activities everyday so far!" The pink haired man pointed in her direction. "Yet that Earthling who is also non-body enhanced, has!"

Narrowing her eyes, Ranma didn't like this one bit.

"What's your excuse?" Seiryo quit pointing and stood with his hands on his hips. "Your lack of ability shames this great institution!"

Standing, she walked purposely down the hill towards Seiryo as he continued to berate Seina for his lack of abilities, his future failure in the GP, and at life in general. She had no reason now to think Seina was anything but a normal human in terms of what he could do physically. His bad luck was something that was supernatural, but nothing else. But for Seiryo to stand there berating Seina for something beyond his control, and using her to do so, was not something she would stand for.

"Ah! The useful Earthling has arrived." Seiryo laughed haughtily at some imagined joke. "Would you be so kind as to show the class how inept your fellow Earthling is?"

"Nope." She answered, and broke his nose with a punch. Seiryo bounced twice as he flew backwards from the force of the blow. "Don't ever use me to pick on the weak again!" She called to the man before heading off the field, leaving the other students staring in mutely at Seiryo.

X x x x x

"Ne, Seina."

Seina barely acknowledged his roommate Kenneth, too busy staring at Ranma's retreating form. "What?" He asked absently, accidentally letting his eyes roam to the other Earthlings backside.

"Are all women on your planet that brutal with their violence?" Kenneth asked.

Seina was about to point out how Ranma was actually male, before thinking better of doing so. After watching Ranma drop Seiryo with a single punch, he didn't want to risk offending the other Earthling by letting out information that may embarrass Ranma. "Some." He answered, feeling like not even his bad luck could bring doom upon him for that answer.

"Class is canceled." Seiryo's muffled voice informed them from his place on the ground.

X x x x x x

"You wanted to see me?" Ranma asked the GP chairwoman, Airi. The green haired woman was sitting at a wooden table on the balcony of the teacher's cafeteria. The roof was made up of leaves, but was otherwise made to appear open to the elements. Many other teachers were sitting at tables eating food, but they paid her little mind, and there were no teachers sitting next to the table Airi was occupying.

"Have a seat." The chairwoman pointed to the bench across from her. Ranma did as asked, curious over why she had been called. "So how's the dorm food?" Airi asked casually.

"It's alright, little bland, but Pein says that it's better for me."

"Pein?"

"Uh, the little helper ball that Seto-san gave me."

"Ah." Airi nodded in understanding. "Well order whatever you want, my treat."

Ranma just raised an eyebrow before finding the button built into the end of the table to call up a viewscreen menu. "So why am I getting a free dinner?" She asked, selecting a dish that looked similar to an Earth one, even though classes weren't in session, gossip got around, and Ranma knew that the teacher's cafeteria was all home cooked food.

"For standing up for Seina-kun." The woman answered simply, selecting her own meal.

"You're like the principal right."

"Chairwoman, but in a way yes."

"So why are you rewarding me for hitting a teacher?"

"Because even though I'm the chairwoman, I can't get rid of him. With his family connections, in order to keep his parents support, he needs to remain gainfully employed within the GP. So unless he does something against regulations, I can't do anything to him."

"Sounds similar to something I had to deal with on Earth."

"So, when someone puts him in his place, I try to do something nice for them."

"Thanks, I guess I'll hit him more often." Ranma smirked.

"Ah ah ah." Airi shook a finger at her. "Only if he's doing something wrong."

"Of course, I would never think to just find him and hit him." Ranma lied through her teeth. Then again, the guy was just like Tatewaki, so she could occasionally treat Seiryo like a person.

"I also heard from Seto-sama that you'll be leaving the Academy to go to Earth." Airi reached down to pick up a black folder from the bench next to her. "Would you be so kind as to give this to Washu-chan?"

"Sure." Ranma agreed, taking the folder from Airi. "What's it for?" She asked, trying to open it up, but finding it sealed, and big letters appeared across the front asking for a key.

"Just a little something special Washu-chan requested. Consider delivering it your first assignment as a cadet." (1)

"Fun." She answered, sliding the folder off to the side.

"So, tell me about yourself." Airi folded her hands on the table. "I know a lot about Seina-kun from Kiriko-chan and Tenchi-chan. But you－ you're just an unknown who tagged along for the ride. Someone who gained the attention of Seto-sama."

"What do you want to know?" Ranma wasn't going to volunteer information, or probably tell the whole truth.

"How about your parents? What are they like?"

Ranma considered this a rather safe area. "I don't remember my mother, but my old man is a greedy idiot most of the time, the rest of the time he's just an idiot."

"Being rather hard on the man aren't you? If you don't know your mother, he did seem to raise you well enough."

"I know, it's just easier to expect idiocy. He's not really that bad, he just doesn't always think things through." Ranma breathed out a deep breath. "Heh, I kind of miss not having him around."

"I'm sure it's not out of the question for a visit after the body enhancement, keep up with your studies though."

"Visit him? That panda? Why would I want to do that?" Ranma crossed her arms with a snort and looked off to the side.

"I couldn't say, but if you did, just ask Seto-sama." Airi seemed unimpressed by her act, choosing to thank the waitress who set their food in front of them. "How about boyfriends?"

"I'm really a boy, remember?" Ranma rolled her eyes.

"So?"

Ranma's face flushed in anger and embarrassment. "No I don't have a boyfriend, I have a very female fiancee. Actually I have two and then a third that I'm married to through some archaic village laws."

"Must be interesting when it's time for bed."

Ranma's face became even more red. "I don't want any of them!" She protested, earning strange looks from the teachers who had not been listening in before. Dropping her voice back down and below normal conversational levels, she continued. "I mean it was decided before I was born for one, the other my dad did it again, and the third is just too stupid to take seriously."

"A little suggestion, never, ever－ ever, ever ever, mention your girl troubles to Seto-sama." Airi informed her with deathly seriousness.

"Wha- why?" Ranma stammered, unnerved by Airi's seriousness.

"Is polygamy legal on Earth?"

"No." Ranma said in a small voice getting some of the hint. "Not in Japan."

"Well it is legal in space, and Seto-sama enjoys nothing more, than to arrange marriages, and she has the power and influence to make sure it happens. Get it?" Airi finished and Ranma nodded rapidly.

"Then again, love makes the galaxy go round, so maybe you should give being married a chance. It's not like you couldn't get a divorce later." Airi decided to add.

Ranma just whimpered and ate her food, crying lightly that she was now in the care of people who thought it was just fine to not just engage, but to forcibly marry her off for the fun of it.

X x x x x x

Not knowing where she was supposed to wait for Seto, Ranma simply waited in her room, ready and packed to go. Both of her roommates were in class, the system for that having been fixed sometime during the night. So now on top of her studies on life in space, there would also be ones detailing various laws, ship operations, and several other subjects including etiquette. The various thin books on the subjects were sitting in a brown satchel bag made from a leather material next to her.

Glancing around at the room, she sort of wished that Adilynn and Corina were around to say goodbye. Though the two had already done so before they left for class earlier, it seemed artificial to do it so far ahead of time. They were obviously both jealous of her, as were many of the random passersby who had stopped by to congratulate her on bashing the creepy teacher. Which was a real ego boost. As scary as the information she had found out about Seto the day before was, Ranma was still getting special treatment from one of the most powerful figures in the galaxy.

Even though her two roommates were jealous of her supposed good fortune, it wasn't like on Earth where pretty much everyone she knew would be trying to take advantage of it for their own ends. Both roommates were genuinely happy for her, and aside from some suggestions of putting in a good word for the pair, they were just sad that she had to leave so soon. It was such a different attitude than what she was used to, and what she herself had, that she didn't really know how to respond.

A light knocking on the outside of the open entrance alerted her to Seto standing there smiling pleasantly. "I believe that I am right on time."

"Looks like it." Ranma glanced at a clock on the wall.

"Let's be off then." Seto didn't move but suddenly Ranma was surrounded briefly by a kaleidoscope of rainbow colored light, and when it abated she was standing in what looked like a very fancy hotel room.

"What- I mean how did we just use a transporter tube?" She asked.

"A Jurai tree ship has the capability to teleport persons and objects short distances without the assistance of a transporter tube. From a planets surface to the ship in orbit is hardly a strain." Seto answered helpfully, waving a hand horizontally. "This will be your room while here."

"This is mine?" She asked incredulously.

"Yes, you will likely be aboard my ship as your first assignment." Seto's voice had an auditory smirk to it. "So if you are ever on the Mikagami, this will be yours."

"Wow－ I mean thanks. But this is way more than I need." Ranma inspected the room closer.

The bed was big enough that could do a kata on it, and was covered in a burgundy sheet with a half dozen pillows at one end. The floor was made from one solid slice of a tree big enough to encompass the entire room, which was nearly ten meters in diameter. An entryway lead out on to a platform overlooking a valley of trees and grass. Two other entrances were spaced equally around the round room, one leading to a large bath, the other door was closed. Five meters over head was a light source diffused by six wide strips of fabric draped down to points two meters above the floor. Three dressers lined the circular fringe to the room, each one made from what looked like a solid piece of wood.(2)

"Nonsense." Seto waved off her concern. "Come, there are some things I would like to show you."

"Alright." Ranma set her satchel bag down on one of the dressers and followed the mint haired woman out one the main entrance and into the sunlight. Being inside a tree ship again was weird. It literally looked like she was on a planet rather than out in space. "Er, shouldn't you tell whoever's driving this thing that we're here?"

"Nobody is driving." Seto smiled at a private joke. "And we're already underway."

"How does that work?"

"Well that takes a complicated answer." Seto answered, strolling down a well worn dirt path. "Normally it is a secret even to members of the Jurai military. But you're a special case."

"I am? Is it cause I'm from Earth?"

"Nope."

"I have a magical curse?"

"Most definitely not."

"Then why?"

"It has to deal with that complicated answer I mentioned." Seto clarified by going back to her original statement, and didn't seem like she was going to answer, because they continued to walk down the path without speaking.

"And that is?" She finally asked, growing irritated at the silence when they started to pass through a group of trees.

"Patience, we're almost there." Seto answered.

Ranma rolled her eyes, following Seto as the trees opened up into a large open area that appeared to be open to space. On the ground portion was a stair step system with water flowing from around the base of a giant oak tree, down to the lower levels, and out back through the forest. Starting from their position, a walkway wrapped around the entire waterworks up to a platform that encircled the tree where the branches were the widest. Ranma realized that this was the cockpit area that she remembered from the first time on the ship.

"This way." Seto waved a hand and a series of tan platforms rose from the water, allowing them access to the base of the tree. Approaching the giant flora, it had to be almost seven meters in diameter. There was also a palpable feeling of both power and strangely a feeling of warmth and contentment, all coming from the tree in the center.

"So you noticed, most people cannot feel a royal tree." Seto's gave her an amused smirk. "Do you have any idea why the Mikagami is called a tree ship?"

"Cause it has a lot of trees in it?" She answered lamely, walking with Seto on to the grassy platform.

"No, it is because one tree, this tree. A tree ship is not merely a ship, it is the result of a bond between a person and a royal tree, the source of Jurai's power. I am bonded with Mikagami, and this is her actual form."

"You're bonded to a tree?" Ranma looked up at the lowest branches several meters over head. "Can't be much for conversation."

"On the contrary, a royal tree is just as sentient as you or I."

"You said this was a big secret, so why are you telling me?"

"Who is bonded with a royal tree cannot be forced. Members of the royal family are almost guaranteed to be bonded, others receive a call that echos to the other trees, and they are brought to the palace for the ceremony." Seto turned to look directly in her eyes. "And Mikagami has indicated that sometime soon you will be called."

"That's a good thing?" She asked, not knowing if she wanted to be bonded to a tree.

Seto laughed to herself. "I don't think I've ever heard someone ask that question." Ranma scrunched up her face in a frown at being laughed at. "Yes, it's a very good thing. Among many advantages to your person, with the bond you'll become part of a royal family."

"WHAT?" She screeched.

"Since your parents don't legally exist off of Earth, I'm your current legal guardian. You can become part of my family permanently if you wish."

"Uh, ah, er, um." Ranma finally settled on just furrowing her brow and staring at the woman. "What if I don't want to be bonded to some weird tree?"

"I understand this is a lot to take in at once. Mikagami-chan, why don't you say hello." Seto told the tree.

"You bet it's a lot to take in－ hey what's with the lights?" Looking down at her hands, thin beams of rainbow colored light were raining down upon her from the tree above. Even through her clothing it felt like someone was touching her with the tips of feathers. Along with the soft touches of light, she started to feel several positive emotions.

'Greetings.'

Ranma jerked when a feminine voice appeared within her head, if it didn't have such a calm feel to it, she would be freaked out over the strange voice.

"Even though I often have visitors, and hundreds work upon Mikagami, she does not often get to greet individuals personally." Seto explained. "Do you hear her talking?"

"I－ I do." Ranma answered, her face flushing in embarrassment when Mikagami chastised her for making the comment about being poor conversation. "Sorry, I've never met a tree that could talk before."

"Seto-sama." An attendant clad in teal clothing with her face covered, stood on one of the walkways over the water. "Your lunch is ready."

"Thank you." The mint haired woman responded. "Shall we eat Ranma?"

"Sure." Ranma watched the light show abruptly end, as well as the direct connection to Mikagami, leaving only the general feeling that the royal tree had been emitting initially.

Reluctantly she left the grassy platform to follow Seto back out through the path they had came in through. Taking a split in the path rather than going back along it towards her quarters, they used a teleporter tube to go to a spot high up on the large tree that she remembered from the first visit. It wasn't the same table, but the view was just as spectacular looking out over the vast forest below.

Sitting down at the table across from Seto, plates filled with food were already set out, and a pair of attendants waited off to the side. The woman across from her started to eat without hesitation while Ranma simply glanced from the plate, up to Seto, and back down again.

"Is something wrong?" Seto asked, noticing her lack of action. "Something else can be prepared if you wish."

"I know what you're trying to do." She stared into the woman's red eyes. "You're trying to make this seem really great, and get me to do what you want. Then you're going to spring some catch on me. Well－ I get why you're my guardian and all, but I don't want to be adopted or get attached to a tree."

"That's fine." Seto answered with a shrug. "You don't have to do anything you don't want."

"You mean like stay or get my memory erased?"

"Point." Seto smiled approvingly. "This is different. If you do not wish to be bonded to a tree, you do not have to be, no consequences. If you do not wish to be part of my family, that is fine as well. As soon as you reach the age of majority in a couple years, I will cease to be your guardian."

"You mean, you're not going to try and force me?" Ranma gaped. All that warning from Airi on Seto, and the woman was being this agreeable?

"Has someone been telling tall tales about me?" Seto looked at her suspiciously.

"Er, well Airi kind of mentioned something with you and weddings." She replied hastily.

"Well if you were interested, I'm sure I could find someone. But I would never force anyone into a marriage."

"You－ you're a lot different than people make you out to be." Ranma admitted, berating herself for believing the things she had heard over the real thing.

"I wouldn't say that." Seto smirked. "I'm sure a few of them got me halfway right." With her free hand, the woman gestured towards Ranma's food. "Now eat, eat, I feel self conscious if it's just myself."

X x x x x x

Ranma was not allowed to simply relax, Seto wanting to spend time on the bridge of the ship, which was situated on the ring surrounding the royal tree. Now that Ranma knew of the tree, she had trouble putting it out of her mind. Mikagami's presence was everywhere, which was to be expecting since it's power was what held the area together. It wasn't a distracting presence, and truth be told she actually liked it, but the idea of being permanently bonded to such a thing was just too strange.

Seto had taken a seat on two person sofa, and directed Ranma to observe the stations being attended to by four women. Since she now knew that control of the Mikagami was done by the tree, Ranma was curious over what they were actually doing. It turned out that they were monitoring transmissions, areas of space around them, and checking on various people working within the ship.

"Ranma-san." A girl she remembered from her first visit bowed her head politely, and Ranma returned it.

"Sorry, I don't really remember your name." Ranma admitted, scratching at the back of her head absently.

"That's quite alright, I'm Masaki Minaho Jurai, would you mind coming with me for a moment?"

"Um－ sure." Ranma followed the only slightly taller girl down the ramp leading from the platform down to the base of the tree. They didn't go all the way, but stopped at a level half way down. "Er, you wouldn't happen to be part of the royal family are you?" She asked, putting the surname together with the addition of Jurai.

"I am, Funaho-sama is my grandmother." The black haired girl informed her, which meant that Minaho was directly connected to the ruling King. "I just wanted to discuss how you will act while on Earth."

"What do you mean?" Ranma cocked her head to one side.

"Seto-sama asked that I explain the guidelines you must follow."

"Alright."

"First, should you encounter Earthlings, you must not discuss life in space, vague hints are fine with your family and close friends. But others must remain completely ignorant or they may have to have their memories erased, or be brought to space themselves."

Ranma simply nodded at this, knowing about the memory erasing bit, but not that she could give some information about what she was doing. Which if she was going to visit the people that she knew, would require some planning on what answers to give, or else she would end up blurting something out.

"The second is not just for when you are on Earth, discussion of royal trees can only be initiated by a member of the royal family. Even though you will be living for a time with princess Ayeka and Sasami, and the others in the home as well know, you are still to abide by this rule no matter what."

Nodding again, Ranma didn't see why she would ever just up and talk about sentient trees, and certainly not with random people. They would thinks he was crazy. Especially if she tried to communicate just what made up a tree ship. It was mind boggling just how big the interior was, even when she was currently in it.

"Finally, the home you are going to is that of Masaki Tenchi. His existence is one of the highest secrets."

Ranma interrupted her with a question. "Isn't he the guy who beat that－ what's his name, Kagato?"

"Yes, there is some information about him that has leaked to the galaxy at large, but you need to keep anything you learn about him to yourself, Seto-sama, or the Emperor himself."

"What's so great about him?"

"That's the reason why he's not to be talked about." Minaho may have been trying to get rid of Ranma's curiosity, but all it did was increase it. "Please repeat back these rules."

"Uh." Ranma faltered, running through her brain to track down the information. "No talking to people about stuff in space. The only ones who can talk about a tree ship are royal family members. And－ don't talk about that Tenchi guy to anyone."

"Close enough, but you may want to train yourself to remember details. If you become part of the royal family it's immeasurably important when dealing with politics."

"You know about that too?" Ranma grimaced.

"I'm Seto-sama's intelligence officer. I didn't need a tree ship to find it out." Minaho smiled. "I'll have a book on memory techniques sent to your quarters."

"Thanks." Ranma replied absently, mentally grumbling over having another subject added to the list. But then perked up that it was something to remember things better, which would make the rest easier.

"Don't mention it, you're keeping Seto-sama busy, it's the least I can do."

"Why do people keep talking like that?"

"Yes, why do people keep saying such things?" Seto appeared behind Minaho with a fan spread in front of her face, her eyes looked upwards.

"Se-Seto-sama!" Minaho recoiled from the tall woman. "How long were you there?"

"Since you began talking about Tenchi-chan." Seto answered, fanning herself.

'How didn't I notice her?' Ranma looked around, trying to find a spot where the woman could have been hiding.

"I was just joking." Minaho laughed nervously and waved her hands in front of her. "Just trying to lighten the mood."

"Ah, I see." Seto snapped her fan shut. "Perhaps I should do the same, perhaps with a story." The woman suggested, tapping the fan to her chin, before motioning with the fan that Ranma should follow her back up the steps. "I know just the one, back when Minaho-chan was about two years old."

"Seto-sama, please not embarrassing childhood stories!" Minaho protested.

"I'm just trying to－ lighten the mood." Seto gave off a high pitched giggle. "She was about two years old, and I was visiting her mother when she."

"Please not that one Seto-sama, please." Minaho begged.

"Oh but it's one of the best, I simply MUST tell this one. Now, as I was saying."

X x x x x x

Standing in a pair of blue jeans, white button up shirt, and navy haori, Masaki Tenchi waited for the newest, and purposely temporary, arrival to his home. The whole household had turned out to wait on the dock outside the enrance to his home, this being the latest, and most interesting thing to happen in the past week. Hakubi Ryoko, the former space pirate hovered at his side along with Masaki Ayeka, the daughter of the current Emperor of Jurai, Azusa.

Ayeka's younger sister, Sasami was close by as well, holding the hand of the humanoid form of Ryo-ohki, Ryoko's multi-form space ship. Ryoko's mother, Washu was standing a bit forward with Seto's adopted daughter Noike, since they were the real ones to be welcoming their houseguess. The last member of the household, Kuramistu Mihoshi was off on a mission in space, and wouldn't be back till later that night.

In front of them, three trails of glitter seemed to fall from the sky. Before any of the arrivals could be seen, wild uncontrollable feminine laughter met their ears. Finally three forms faded into view. The laughing one was a short black haired girl wearing what Tenchi thought of as Jurai style clothing, she had on white pants and a green blouse. She was also rolling on the ground, holding her sides, with small tears being squeezed from her tightly shut eyes.

The other two were more familiar, his multiple great grandmother Seto was waving a folding fan in front of her face, acting completely oblivious to his aunt Minaho who was pleading with the woman.

"Please grandmother, no more stories, please please please please please, I beg of you." Minaho implored the woman, before she realized that they had an audience. "Erk!" Straightening up, she tried to look nonchalant. "Hello." She said in a small voice.

"I wonder if Tenchi-chan would like to hear the one about you－." Seto trailed off, focusing on the assembled group. "Ranma." She warned sternly. "It's impolite to meet people while laughing like a lunatic."

"Eh?" The girl on the ground froze, also noticing the audience for the first time. "Oops." In a single quick movement she was up to her feet. "Hi." The girl greeted weakly, bowing politely.

"Welcome." Noike and Washu greeted close to unison, before returning the bow, Noike then helpfully introduced everyone for the new arrivals benefit. When he introduced after Noike and Washu, he found himself suddenly face to face with the short girl, her blue eyes examining him.

"So you're Tenchi? You don't look like much." She looked him up and down critically. "You look pretty normal to me, pathetic even."

"Hey you!" Ryoko appeared with the front of the girl's shirt gripped in her hand. "Don't you dare insult Tenchi!"

"Yes this is most impolite." Ayeka agreed with her eyes closed.

"Hold it!" Noike's voice cut into the moment. "Ryoko, let her go." The cyan haired space pirate did as commanded after a moment. "Ayeka, no ganging up." Ayeka backed away to his side, trying not to look embarrassed. "And you, don't pick fights." She finished with Ranma who shot back to stand slightly behind Seto, as if that would be some kind of protection.

Giving a strained smile, he could already tell that having a visit from his Great Grandmother and this possible future relation, was not going to be the quiet affair he had hoped for. 'I knew it.' Seto of course looked highly amused by the situation, and Minaho had taken the opportunity to return to the ship floating in orbit, before any attention could return to her.

Noike coughed into her hand. "Now, this is Ryo-Ohki-chan." She indicated the humanoid cabbit, who meowed several times happily while running up to show off one of the many small dances she had taken to greeting people with.

As Ryo-Ohki began to wave her arms about and sing with meows, Tenchi noticed that Ranma's face rapidly fell into a look of horror. When Ryo-ohki finished with a final loud meow, the new arrival screamed in pure unadulterated horror and took off at a sprint in the opposite direction. Which unfortunately meant she sped out to the end of the dock, and ended up taking a swim.

"I knew it." He groaned externally this time.

X x x x x x

"I said relax." Washu was behind a semi-transparent laptop floating in the air before her, rapidly typing on keys. The short red head was also sitting on a red cushion that was also floating in mid air.

Ranma frowned and tried to do as the short red head commanded. After embarrassing herself by running from that scary little very cat like girl, she had been almost teleported into some lab complex, before even getting out of the lake. It had all happened so quickly that Ranma's frazzled mind didn't really know how she ended up here, sitting in a white cotton robe as her clothing rapidly dried on a simple wooden rack nearby. Shifting the towel she had wrapped around her neck, she tried not to dislodge the head sized yellow sphere thing that Washu had placed upon the top of her hair.

"What are you doing anyways?" Ranma asked, glancing around wearily for that strange rabbit cat-girl.

"Just a basic bioscan, figured I would get a base reading."

"Er, shouldn't you be doing that on my real body?" She had thought about that, not wanting to be body enhanced as a girl, while her real body was left as is. Or worse, become locked as a girl.

"I will." Washu answered simply, not even looking at her.

Checking to make sure that no one else was around, she played with the left cuff of her robe. "And don't you want to know why I freaked out?" Normally she wouldn't have thought to even bring up the subject, but for all her strange appearance, this was the number one super genius, Washu. Ranma quickly mentally slapped herself for falling into the way Adilynn had described the girl before her.

"Of course I do." The red head answered simply. "Are you interested in explaining?"

"Not really." It hadn't really been the neko-ken by itself that had caused such an extreme reaction, it was a brief flash of just what kind of power that little girl held, coupled with the meows she had been making. The only image that had entered into her mind was that of a cat capable of destroying a planet, and blind panic had taken over.

"Well it's obviously not seeing a strange humanoid. You couldn't go into space and not come across species that deviate from Earth norm like the Wau." Washu mused, never ceasing her typing.

"Is that girl part cat?" She asked, trying to work up the urge to at least explain the neko-ken, hoping that Washu wouldn't laugh like the Tendo's.

"She hasn't always been, but yes she has incorporated feline traits into her body matrix. You see, she's a combination of a mineral life form, and an organic life form called the Masu."

"What?"

"Yes, she is part cat, but she's mostly a form of life that doesn't exist on this planet." Washu summarized.

"Ah－ well I don't like cats."

"Not liking, is a far cry from such a hysterical reaction."

"Are you a psychiatrist too?"

"Hmm, I believe on Earth I would hold some type of collegiate certification in that as well." Washu answered with a shrug. "So I take it you have an extreme phobia of cats? I feel compelled to inform you that there's a strict patient doctor confidentiality, currently you're in a subspace area the size of Mars, where not another sentient can be found." Washu paused in typing briefly before starting up again.

"Kay, er－ why is that little girl so strong?" Ranma ignored explaining that cats terrified her by asking the more important question she had. How could such a child possess so much power?

"That's because she's really just a normal space projection of a space ship. It is impressive that you were able to realize that there was more to her than just her body." Washu's green eyes shifted from the screen to focus purely on her. "Which begs the question of how you were able to do so." With a final click, a dozen viewscreens popped into existence around them, each one showing various bits of information. "Because by all my scans, aside from your curious shape changing, and high level physical abilities, you're just a normal human."

"I dunno." Ranma answered with a shrug, more worried about the space ship shaped girl. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No, it just means your ability to perceive reality is far more attuned than it should be."

Ranma's face quickly shifted into a frown. "Then why did you just ask me how I was able to if you knew already?"

"I was just asking if you knew." Washu smirked.

"Can I take this thing off my head yet?" She asked irritably.

"Of course, I just wanted some time to talk." Washu's smirk grew. With a huff Ranma quickly got dressed back into her now dry clothing. The same field that kept minor amounts from coming into contact with them or someone contained within them, also forced water from the fibers. "Ryo-Ohki lives here, she's vocal, and she's affectionate, it will be difficult if you become hysterical at the sight of her."

"And I suppose you have some super high tech way to fix that too?" She asked sarcastically. "I haven't gotten along with cats for years now, and it don't look like it's getting better."

"Nothing that wouldn't seem be cliched."

"Huh?"

"Nothing." Washu waved her hand dismissively, hopping off the red cushion she had been sitting on. "But now that you're in a better mindset, do you think you can handle being around Ryo-Ohki?"

"If she doesn't meow and stays way away from me." She answered quickly.

"We'll have to work on that." Washu's smirk returned with a vengeance.

X x x x x x

Lounging in the spacious living room as the sun slowly set over the lake. Seto briefly wondered what it was like around here when she wasn't present. So many fun personalities all under one roof, she could understand how even a genius like Washu could never get bored. Ranma seemed to be fitting in as well. Although watching the shape changer make simple conversation with the occupants, while avoiding Ryo-Ohki completely, she realized that some tutoring on socialization would be good.

"So how long will you be staying Grandmother?" Ayeka asked, reminding her that she had not really said when she had told Washu that she would like to monitor Ranma's progress.

"I'm not sure, Washu-chan, do you know how long it will take for Ranma-chan to be done?" She twisted her head slightly to look over at the red haired scientist.

"Hmm." Washu looked deep in though for a moment. "At least a month."

"That long?" Seto asked, glancing at Ranma for just a second to see that her charge looked insulted, no doubt expecting to complete the required adjustment period in record time.

"Oh yes, there's the physical training, that phobia will also have to be dealt with, and then there's the shape changing." With the last word, all eyes turned towards Ranma who simply shrugged.

"What? I'm really a guy." The short girl said in an overly casual tone, hiding an underlying nervousness.

"Neat." Sasami chirped, as the group collectively moved past the oddity in a second.

Seto's calm smile grew slightly at Ranma's reaction. The Earthling had obviously been expecting a different, more extreme reaction, her mouth hanging slightly open. 'Ranma still hasn't learned that things strange on Earth are not so in space.' Beyond that though, her little project would have to learn soon enough not to become to frazzled over simple conversation.

"While I would love to stay for a month, I'm sure I will have to head back in a few days, and I would so like to meet Ranma-chan's family before I do." Her smile grew just a bit more, glancing back to the Earthling.

"Oh ho! That's right isn't it." Washu clapped her hands. "That will have to be done first, Ranma-dono simply won't be able to while adjusting."

"It is late, but we could go visit now." Seto suggested to herself, it wasn't all that late, only half past seven Earth time. "I'm sure Washu-chan would like to get started first thing tomorrow morning." She let the red head catch her suggestion.

"That works for me." The red head answered her suggestion.

"Right now?" Ranma wondered. "But it's half way across Japan." (3)

"Of course." Contacting Mikagami, they were both surrounded by light when the tree ship responded to her request.

X x x x x x

Ranma glanced left, then right, after the teleport was finished. Finding herself standing in front of a familiar gate, with a familiar sign declaring this to be the home of the Tendo Musabetsu Kakutou Ryu. Realizing how small a distance it was from the former location to here, compared to going to a ship in orbit, she felt silly for bring it up right before Seto had acted.

"You could have at least give some warning before doing that." She grumbled. Seto was the one doing it so the sudden shifts in perspective weren't nearly as disorientating to her.

She nearly added that Seto should have allowed her to change back to male, and out of the purely female clothing she was wearing. Ranma had tried to simply resize the female clothing and see if it would change to fit her male form. It did, but the cut still remained female, and it didn't look right at all. But then Ranma remembered that she still had clothing at the Tendo home, so she didn't voice this thought.

Setting aside other concerns, such as giant tree ships, schools that took up an entire solar system, and the myriad of other knowledge about space that she had, Ranma headed into the home for a dose of normalcy.

"Yo! Anyone home?" She asked, wandering through the hall past the kitchen towards the living room. No lights were on though, no one answered her shout, and the usual signs of life were absent. That the doors hadn't been locked wasn't an oddity, Ranma couldn't remember a time where it had been.

"It seems that we chose a bad time to visit." Seto mused, peering at a picture of the Tendo family hanging on the wall.

"Where are they?" Ranma wondered out loud, heading to the kitchen to check a calender that Kasumi always put planned activities on. "Six thirty, dinner with Saotomes?" She wondered, confused over what that could mean. "Does this mean that one crazy lady really was my mom?" Rubbing at her forehead, Ranma was both interested in finding out if it was true, and worried that it was.

"Would you like to try your mother's home?" Seto asked inspecting the kitchen with a small smile.

"I don't even know my mother." Ranma answered, assuming that this was proof that the lady she had talked to was indeed her mother. "But if you know where she is, lemme change into a guy first before you zap us there."

"Of course." Seto allowed her to go past on her way up to the guest room to grab some male clothing. Taking a single step into her former room, Ranma froze, finding it to be empty of everything that she and her father had kept in it. "Where's my stuff?" She demanded angrily, opening up the closet to find it empty, the dresser was the same way.

"Such a humble residence." Seto commented, appearing at the door.

"Don't follow me around like that." Ranma frowned at the mint haired woman, more frustrated that Genma had apparently pawned all her stuff. Who knows how many of the little valuable things he had collected were lost now, sold for pocket change.

"We could return the ship for clothing if you wish." The Jurai noble suggested. Ranma was about to agree but then stopped, leveling Seto with a serious look, and trying to decide why she was being so helpful. "Something wrong?"

"Are you trying to make being bonded to a tree ship look really great?" She asked, already having to accept that it seemed to be all benefits.

"Ranma, when I said that you could be adopted by me, I did not mean it as a joke, or merely as a political move."

"You don't even know me." Ranma pointed out angrily. Literally they had met twice, and all that time combined still wasn't even a day. "What do you even care past the tree thing?"

She had enough experience with people trying to marry her at the drop of a hat, but adoption was a new angle. Especially by someone who was literally offering to make her royalty. How was she supposed to respond to something like that? Ranma wasn't sure, but getting it over with quickly was probably for the best.

"A whim I suppose." Seto shrugged her shoulders almost imperceptibly. "Noike was also just a whim, I learned long ago that my whims are usually for the best."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

Ranma sighed. "At least you're honest about it." Still unnerved about the casual adoption angle, she did still want to track down her old man. "Can I go back to your ship from some clothes and to change back to a guy?"

"Of course."

X x x x x x

One change of gender and clothing, and Ranma once again found himself standing in front of a gate, with Seto standing nearby with a patient, amused smile across her face. Hitting a doorbell set off to the side of the gate, he waited for a response.

Glancing down at his new clothing, he fidgeted with the hanging yellow badge signifying that he was a cadet, to make sure it was in it's proper place. All of his clothing was basically the same as the female version, though the colors were darker, and the cut was for a male. His pants were a blue, his shirt was green, but his overcoat was a navy blue with a green leaf pattern acting as a border for the short sleeves.

The gate opened, allowing him to see that Genma had come to answer the door. As always, his father was wearing a white gi, and a bandanna over his bald head. Genma took a moment to adjust his glasses, trying to be sure that Ranma was indeed at the gate. Once he seemed satisfied, Genma broke out into a sweat and glanced back nervously.

"What is it this time old man?" Ranma groaned, knowing all too well the obvious signs of Genma having done something stupid.

"Come on boy!" Genma suddenly grabbed him and dragged him through the gate. Letting the elder Saotome move him, he realized too late what his father was up to when he was thrown towards a koi pond only slightly smaller than the one at the Tendo's.

"Stupid old man!" Ranma cried out before hitting the water. There was a moment where his clothing attempted to repel the water, then with a pop the small air bubble that had surrounded him popped, and he was once again a she. "You stupid panda!" She yelled, leaping from the water towards Genma.

"Genma, who's this?" A woman's voice asked, glancing over to a door, she fumbled with her next step. It was the woman she had seen on the telephone her first day in space. She was wearing a white kimono, her black hair tied up in a bun.

"This is." Genma appeared at her side, grabbing her by the shoulders to point her towards the woman. "This is－." The man fumbled for a word, glancing down at Ranma's clothing. "Midori, she's Akane's cousin."

"Eh?" She stared at her father's smiling face, wondering what the reason was behind this.

"Just go along with it." Genma whispered out the side of his mouth. "I thought you were out of town." He said louder.

"I was." Ranma glanced between the two, from her nervously smiling old man, to the serenely smiling woman who looked to be her mother. "Way out of town." Raising a hand to tap her clothing control node, she resized them to fit better on her body.

"My my, so lively." Seto was watching the precedings from the corner of the building.

"And who is this?" Nodoka switched from her to Seto.

"I am Kamiki Seto Jurai." The noble woman greeted with a polite bow of her head. "Midori-chan's guardian."

"Hello, I am Saotome Nodoka." The kimono clad woman returned the bow. "Please come inside, and I'll get you a towel Midori-chan."

Ranma watched the woman head into the home, with Seto following wearing a greatly amused smirk. Once Nodoka was out of sight she elbowed Genma in the stomach with a great deal of force, making him gag as the wind was driven from his lungs. "Spill old man, is she really my mom?"

"She is." Genma gasped. "But you gotta listen to me."

"Oh yea? What's it this time? Cause I gotta tell ya, you're going to have to work really hard to top what I got myself into right now."

"Before we left on the training trip she made me sign a contract."

"Go on." She waved her hand in little circles next to her head.

"That if you weren't manly, she would make us both commit seppuku."

Ranma stared at Genma, her mouth slightly agape. "You can't be serious."

"Boy, I have never been more serious about anything before in my life."

Using a very creative and explicit curse word she had picked up at the Academy, the meaning of which was completely lost on Genma, Ranma punched him once again in the stomach just for good measure. "GAH! How could you be so stupid!" She screamed at him, kicking him into the pond.

#It was all her idea!# The wet panda held up a wooden sign. #Whatever you do, don't tell her!#

Putting her face in her hands, Ranma shook her head. "Of course my mom is crazy, who else would marry a moron like you?"

"Midori-chan, here's a towel." Nodoka stepped out of the door into the side of the traditional home to hand her a towel. Ranma stared up into the woman's eyes, wondering if she was really as crazy as Genma was making her out to be. Nodoka was smiling in such a friendly way, and she looked so caring, it was hard to take the old panda seriously. "Is something wrong dear?" Nodoka asked, noticing that Ranma had been staring.

"Well." She started, glancing nervously to the side.

"Do you happen to know my Ranma?" The Saotome woman asked before Ranma could come up with a question.

"Yes." She answered slowly.

"Is he manly?" Nodoka asked, her eyes shining with hope.

"Yea." Ranma didn't think it prudent to bring up that it was kind of hard to be manly when inhabiting a body that was one hundred percent female.

"That's wonderful! Akane-chan was just telling me about how he had been manly in fighting off that wretched gnome Happosai." Nodoka gave her an ecstatic smile. "Come on inside, would you like anything?"

"No, I ate before coming down." She answered, following the woman inside the home. 'She can't be nuts, she's way too nice to want me to kill myself.' Once out of the night air, she found the entire Tendo family gathered around a low table, Seto had taken a kneeling position nearby, still obviously amused by the situation. Akane looked like she wanted to greet her, but quickly held her tongue.

"Sit next to me Midori-chan." Seto patted a spot next to her.

Holding off on doing as the woman asked, Ranma opened her mouth to tell Nodoka who she was before this farce could go on any further. She was just starting to utter a syllable when Genma as a panda bumped her from behind as he lumbered into sit down. His beady eyes pleading with her not to say anything. "Saotome-san." She started.

"Midori-chan, could you tell me about my son? I wouldn't want to make a decision on his manliness without more information." Nodoka asked oblivious to Ranma wanting to say something different.

"Decision?" Seto asked for her.

"Oh yes." Nodoka addressed the noble woman. "Ranma and his father made a solemn vow that they would return from their training journey with him as a man amongst men, or else he would commit seppuku."

"That is rather extreme." Seto answered this declaration casually. "Don't you think?"

"It is, but as an honorable martial artist, such an honorable pact, must be upheld." Nodoka became very serious, grabbing a long silk wrapped bundle to pull out the top of a katana. "I've prepared myself since that day they left to act as their second. I would expect such a manly son, as Ranma no doubt is, to stand by his vows."

'She's serious!' Ranma screamed mentally.

"But it won't come to that, after all, my son is manly." Nodoka hastily wrapped the katana back into the silk. Ranma whimpered lightly, glancing at the silk wrapped bundle with dread. "Of course now that he's out in space doing who knows what manly activities, I fear that I won't get to meet him for some time." Her mother sighed with such sadness that Ranma felt a sharp pain in her chest.

"Is something wrong Midori-chan?" Kasumi joined the conversation, the eldest Tendo daughter being quick enough to realize that using her real name was out of the question at the moment.

Ranma didn't answer the question, choosing to look right at Seto. "Can we go?"

"But you just got here." Nodoka twisted her head to the side. "Please don't feel uncomfortable with this talk about my son."

"I'd just like to go." Ranma said more forcefully.

"Of course." Seto rose to her feet. "I'm very sorry that we could not stay longer." The Jurai noble apologized, Ranma didn't remain to watch the woman work her verbal game with the Tendo's and her parents.

As soon as she was outside the gate, light surrounded her, and she found herself transported up to her room on the Mikagami. Sitting down on the edge of the vast bed, she glanced down at her bust. 'How can I meet my own mother like this?' A minute later, Seto appeared just outside the doorway before stepping in.

"Can Washu really get rid of this? Get rid of my curse?" Ranma asked hopefully.

"Considering Washu-chan has already said she could, yes." Seto answered. "Though after meeting your mother, I think you should consider your reasons for doing so carefully."

"What's that supposed to mean? This isn't me, this body is just a curse, and if it means I wouldn't have a death threat hanging over my head, why wouldn't I jump at a cure?" She demanded angrily.

"I didn't say don't do it, merely I think you should do it because you want to, not because an unbalanced woman who wishes for your death if you are unmanly, would desire it." The tall woman answered calmly.

Without wanting to verbally spar with the woman, Ranma sat for a minute in silence. "I want to be alone." She finally told Seto with her head titled forward and looking up through her bangs. Seto nodded in understanding.

Seto said one last thing before leaving her alone. "Mikagami-chan will send you down to Earth in the morning, so don't stay up too late."

X x x x x x

Author Notes:

1 – Revisions to Washu's proposed plan for the Kamidake.

2 - You can think Ayeka's room on her own ship, although a bit less ornate.

3 – Ranma saw on a viewscreen before they went down to the planet where they were going.


	5. Living with the Masaki's

"Speech"

'Thought'

X x x x x x

Breathing heavily, Ranma sat down on the grassy hill on his backside, he took in great gasps of air before collapsing on to his back. Staring up into the sky, he tried to count just some of the endless of stars hanging over head. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to remember that it wasn't the sky overhead, it was a projection. He wasn't on the Earth, this grass wasn't the same type of grass he had always known, the trees weren't the same.

Slamming his fist into the ground, he felt so out of place. To everyone else this was normal, they thought in terms of planets and moving between them. But all he had ever known was traveling between continents, islands, countries. He was overwhelmed, he had to admit it. First space, now tree ships, and to top everything off, going back to Earth and finding that his mother would demand his death she found out about the curse.

Washu could cure him, that tiny red head could do what he had failed to do on the handful of occasions where he had actually tried. The instant spring packets, the spring under the girl's locker room, the waterproof soap, Kuno and his wishing sword, all failed miserably. Only two of them even had a chance to actually cure the curse.

The prize was dangling right there in front of him, no one was stopping him, no one even attempting to get in his way. But here he was, working himself to exhaustion, trying to avoid thinking about it. He had been cursed for nearly a year now, and by now it was almost normal, something he just had to deal with that others didn't. Just like how he was so much better at martial arts than the average person. (1)

Letting his eyes open, he watched Earth slowly rotate into view, the light from the sun finding a way to sneak around the edge of the blue dot, illuminating the far edge. Rising up into a sitting position, he looked out over the vast forest, briefly overwhelmed by the size of the interior, before his eyes were drawn to the giant tree dominating the landscape. Leaving that impressive sight, he focused on the smaller tree that represented the real heart of the ship.

Slowly rising to his feet, he started back for his room to take a quick bath before going to sleep. Even though his feet felt like they were encased in lead, he eventually had to start jogging. 'Ugh I can't believe how big this place is.' He once again struggled mentally to imagine the space contained. Thousands could live inside the ship and be completely self-sufficient. For all purposes this would be their planet.

Twenty minutes later he finally reached his room, or it would be more accurate to call the place a home. Though it only had one true room, the whole thing was a self-contained unit that was actually close to the size of the Tendo home. Passing through the curtains that kept the entrance somewhat private, he headed for the bath.

Turning up the heat in the bath, he cleaned himself off, and got in to let the hot water soak into his body. Welcoming the warmth, he pushed everything from his mind to just relax. Like everything else, the bath was large, nearly big enough to be in a bath house. Up overhead the lights were pointed towards the ceiling where they reflected back down, creating a soft relaxing atmosphere.

Finally feeling that he had entered into a good condition physically and mentally, he climbed out of the water to do one last thing before going to bed. Dressing in a set of white pajamas, he used some cold water on his arm to change forms.

Staring into the full length mirror that was in the bath area, she looked directly into her own eyes, and brushed some damp hair from her forehead. 'I guess this is goodbye.' Taking in every detail, every difference from her birth form, she wondered if this was almost a form of suicide. Having met Nodoka, it was obvious that this wasn't just a random body Jusenkyo had generated. Shaking her head, Ranma did not want to consider this form to be some kind of person by itself. It was just her if she had been born a girl. Since she had not been born a girl, it shouldn't even exist.

Laying on the bed, she stretched out, and was unable to find the edges. Tossing and turning, she finally moved to the top corner to lay on her side. "I'm going to have to do something to Amane for causing all this." She mumbled into her pillow. "Yea, Amane is going to get it." She yawned, letting exhaustion take over.

X x x x x x

Hearing a loud ringing, Ranma shot up in the bed, trying to find the source. The source it turned out, was a head sized viewscreen demanding that she wake up. Pein was floating behind the viewscreen, the small ball must have been activated by someone or even maybe the Mikagami herself.

"I'm up I'm up." She rubbed at her eyes, and the viewscreen and noise finally cut out. "How'd you get out of your box anyways?"

"My model is capable of interfacing with a tree ship and I was activated by the Mikagami to raise you from your sleep, Miss Ranma." Pein answered. "In one half hour you'll be transported to the planet, along with your belongings, as you will remain there the rest of the time that you are on Earth."

Ranma didn't respond, slipping out from underneath the covers, to stretch herself out. Arms raised above her head, she leaned her body side to side at the waist. Doing some more stretches focused on her back, the bed was far too soft, and had left her feeling all twisted up.

"Would you like for me to select clothing for you?" Pein asked helpfully.

"Male ones." Ranma answered, heading for the bath area. "And casual stuff." She amended, knowing that he would pick out the formal ones first.

Having just gone into the room to get some hot water to change back, she once again ended up staring at herself in the mirror. Shaking her head, she couldn't understand why she wasn't jumping up in joy, running around saying something stupid like 'never going to be a girl again!' Then again, Seto's message last night was now repeating through her head.

Was her decision to be cured just because of her mother's insane seppuku idea? Was that a good reason? Why was she even considering any other option but a full cure? Maybe because she had never really thought of trying for a cure unless someone else brought it up. Someone else held it up in front of her. She had never really thought too deeply on the curse, choosing to be like her father, and to just ignore it for the most part. Was being indecisive about a cure a part of the curse? One last thing to make sure that it remains? It would be nice to get some perspective by someone who also had the same curse. Even if asking such questions would be mortifying beyond belief.

What kind of guy was she anyways? Always using this form for whatever whim popped into her head. Was that normal for a guy who suddenly could be a girl? Other than people who knew about the curse, no one had ever realized that she was a guy in this form. Shouldn't her peers realize at some point that she wasn't just a tomboy? Then again, she hadn't realized that Tsubasa had been a boy. ''it's not a hobby indeed."

For that matter, since when had she accepted the face the mirror－ as her's?

X x x x x x

Arriving back on Earth, Ranma found himself inside a very basic room, the cylinder luggage arrayed along one of the walls. There was a futon rolled up in one corner, a closet, and an eight drawer dresser up against another wall. All the colors were an off white or pale shade of blue.

"Not too much difference between your forms. Added height and change of gender notwithstanding, this Jusenkyo clearly works off applying a template while keeping information from your original form." Washu commented, leaning casually against the wall next to the door.

"Yea, I kind a figured that out." He replied without much enthusiasm.

"So did you eat on the ship?" Washu asked.

"No." He answered.

"That's good, Noike and Sasami-chan made something special since Seto-dono was going to be here. So we'll have a nice breakfast, and then get started."

"Can I ask you something quick?" Ranma put his hands in his pant pockets.

"Of course."

"You can cure it right? My curse that is."

"I don't anticipate any problems with－ removing it, so yes. After getting some base readings off your male form, I can apply the body enhancement in a few hours." Washu answered.

"That's good, cause I－ I want to get it over with as soon as possible, I don't want to be a girl ever again." Digging his hands deeper in his pockets, he didn't even want breakfast.

Washu's face remained neutral before she nodded. "Then we'll start right after getting some food."

X x x x x x

Two hours later, Ranma blinked, blinked again, and decided a third and then fourth were necessary. Somehow he had ended up in a three meter high glass cylinder, naked. Well the naked part wasn't too bad, having little in the way of modesty, but it was cold, and Washu kept looking up from the viewscreen computer she was typing at, and giggling.

'Why does she keep giggling?' He pouted, keeping his hands in front of his crotch. He couldn't really see anything past Washu, the room falling away into the darkness created by the harsh light positioned directly above and below him. Feeling a warm liquid pool around his feet, he looked down, watching it rapidly rise up his legs.

"Starting process." Washu announced. "You're sure about this now? There's no going back you know."

"I had enough doctors poking at me the last time I was in a hospital, not like this would make a big difference." He answered as the liquid reached his waist. The liquid wasn't giving him any buoyancy, in fact he felt heavier.

"I told you not to be so nonchalant." Washu shook her head, hitting several keys that hastened the influx of liquid.

"I just want to get this over with and get back to the Academy." Ranma trailed off. "Oh crap the Academy! What am I going to do?" His next words were cut off by the liquid covering his head. Holding his breath, he looked around, his vision being blurred.

"Breath out all your oxygen as much as you can, then take a breath." Washu's voice came over a speaker. "Weren't you listening at all when I explained the process?"

'No I wasn't.' He mentally grumbled. Coughing and hacking when he could no longer hold his breath, and liquid replaced oxygen. After the momentary discomfort was over, he found it difficult, but possible to push the liquid in and out like air. The lights around him grew in intensity and he felt something cloud over his mind.

X x x x x x

Ranma blinked her eyes, realizing that she was in the kitchen at the Tendo home. Glancing down, she found that she was wearing a simple white apron with some puffy frills over her shoulders. 'What am I doing here?' Wasn't she, no he, just in a super high tech lab in Okayama? Akane was off to her left wearing an apron with a flower print. More surprising was that Nodoka was just off to Ranma's right arranging several vegetables on the table in the middle of the floor.

"Midori-chan, would you mind cutting the vegetables for the salad?" Nodoka asked, smiling pleasantly.

'Is she talking to me?' Ranma noticed that her mother was indeed talking to her. "Sure." She went along with the instruction. Grabbing all the vegetables to fit into her left hand, she picked up a large blade in the right. "Hup!" She threw the vegetables into the air and followed immediately in a path to jump over the table. With a flurry of precise slices so fast that the pieces didn't even have time to separate, she landed on the other side as the vegetables landed neatly and arranged in a bowl.

"That was wonderful!" Nodoka gushed. "And you arranged them beautifully."

"Oh it was nothing." Preening, she covered her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Although next time you should wash them first." Nodoka informed her.

"Oops, silly me." Scratching at her pigtail, she didn't know what was going on, but she would play along until she did.

"You missed the carrots." Akane pointed out, hastily grabbed several carrots, and a large cleaver. "I can cut them!" Slamming a carrot down on a cutting board, Akane raised her knife hand high into the air, and then proceeded to slammed it down as hard as she could and repeatedly.

"Eh?" Small hard things began to pepper Ranma, and she snagged one out of midair. "This is wood."

"See! Perfect!" Akane boasted as the pile of wood and carrots.

"Wa-wait a minute!" Ranma tried to protest but Nodoka was ignoring her.

"Well Akane-chan, because they're not the same size, they'll cook unevenly."

"That explains why there are always hard chunks!" Akane realized like she had just solved a great mystery.

"That's because you're cooking wood!" Ranma yelled to be heard.

"Stop being so silly Midori-CHAN." Akane remarked snidely while pouring salad oil into the wok.

"Ack! Stop that!" She grabbed the plastic bottle from her unwanted fiancée.

"Quit being so dramatic, it's just some clear soy sauce." Akane grabbed the bottle and tried to take it back but Ranma held on tight.

"Idiot! Read the label!" Ranma was able to take the bottle from Akane just as the wok exploded into a fire nearly reaching the ceiling.

"Where's the extinguisher?" Nodoka looked around wildly.

"It's over here." Ranma grabbed it and was about to put out the fire, except Akane had dumped it in the sink and poured water on it, creating an inferno.

X x x x x x

"Ah, there we go." Washu's voice was very close to his ears, and he could feel her securing something around his head.

'What the?' He opened up his eyes and quickly sat up. 'What a messed up dream.' Reaching up to feel what Washu had been adjusting, he found a simple piece of fabric. Attempting to move it, the headband didn't move at all. Looking down, he was no longer naked, but covered in a black skin tight body suit that ended at his knees and elbows. Over his left pectoral was a golden circle.

"You have bigger things to worry about." The red head's voice oozed amusement.

"Why am I dressed like this?"

Washu put her face in her hand. "You really didn't listen at all."

"You talk to fast." He tried to defend himself, glancing at the large square room. The walls were a flat white color, each side was five meters in length and width, and it was the walls themselves that were actually providing light.

"That is a garment that restricts the electrical impulses to your muscles, which keeps you from using your full strength."

"Oh." Trying to hop to his feet, he fell on his butt. "What gives?" He demanded angrily, climbing to his feet in a normal way.

"Your strength is that of a normal human." Washu answered. "So you'll have to get used to being average."

"But." Ranma frowned.

"Do I have to re-explain everything? Body enhancement sets your normal, at rest strength, to ninety percent the maximum your enhanced body can withstand before breaking. It's the reverse of everything you've done before. You'll have to train yourself down, rather than up now. Quite honestly you must have very good genes for your body to have withstood the forces you put it through beforehand."

"My old man? Good genes? I still can't believe that my mother is as pretty as she is and she settled for him."

"Good genes don't always mean pretty ones." Washu shook a finger disapprovingly at him. "And it is both parents that you get your genes from, so your mother must be physically fit as well. Though her lifestyle likely negates any benefit, unlike you and your father."

Washu summoned her viewscreen laptop and hit several keys, plunging the entire room into complete darkness. A moment later the world around them was suddenly filled by a grassy meadow surrounded by large trees. "Before you even start training your body, we have to work through that little phobia of yours."

"We do?" he asked nervously, suddenly very self-conscious about being so weak.

"We do." Washu answered, glancing around at the environment. "Before we begin, remember that all of this is just a three dimensional image. The only real objects are you and me, so you cannot be hurt by anything you see."

Ranma glanced at the red head, wondering why she had felt that warning to be necessary. "So what's with the forest?"

"This room is keyed to your mind, we are in a forest, because your mind is in a forest. Trees on the brain as it is."

"Eh?"

"You said you traveled a lot, I'm sure at some point you were lost in the woods. I believe that would be an apt analogy to your mental state at the moment. Lost in the woods, many options, many avenues of passage, some of which lead to dark places that you may or may not want to go to."

"Can't we just do something simple? Like work on getting used to this enhancement stuff?"

"No, if by some off chance you get into a blind panic again while unrestrained, you could seriously injure someone. I wouldn't even have done the body enhancement if you weren't so adamant about having a cure, right now." Washu's voice broke no argument.

"So what now?" He asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"Now you think about cats."

"Why would I want to think about them?" He tried not to, realizing that if this was his mind being projected, that if he did, some cat would appear. The bright sunlight overhead dimmed suddenly, but no feline appeared.

"So how did you gain this fear? Did you always have this phobia? Or was it a bad incident in your childhood?"

Shutting his eyes tight, he focused on everything but the neko-ken training. "I really want to do something else right now." He said through gritted teeth. Living with that memory was hard enough, he didn't want this room to make him relive it.

"Must be childhood trauma." Washu commented. "How old were you when it happened." She asked, her voice full of concern.

Ranma had never actually talked about the training with anyone. That little old lady who had calmed him down was as close as that got. But he had never talked to her about it, he had just used her for a comforting presence, the kind that Genma simply didn't give. Letting his eyes open, he thought about that old lady, who was likely dead now.

The first thing he saw when opening was the positively giant form of the woman he was remembering. It was like everything was being shown from the position of a small child. The woman was also incredibly blurry, nothing was in focus, the details having been lost to time. All that remained were general details.

Unfortunately his mind wandered, connecting the old woman to events that had happened only an hour before. The room quickly became completely black. Sounds of creatures shifting accompanied large dark forms moving around him. "No." He whispered, being unable to stop himself, glowing eyes started to appear. It was too much, it was too real, he spun in a circle, his breath coming in large rapid gasps.

They were all around him! Hundreds of eyes staring hungrily at him, ready to pounce, to bite and claw at his flesh! As one the dark forms became that of cats, and they descended upon him. Screaming, he curled up in a little ball, covering his head as best he could.

So engrossed in the illusion, he didn't realize that no claws or teeth dug into him. There was no pain, no spitting or hissing from the cats, it was quiet except for Washu's voice as she made soft soothing noises. He was shaking, curled up in a fetal position, with her kneeling next to his head. Not moving, he glanced around, seeing that the illusion was gone, and he was back in just a white room.

"Who did that to you?" Washu asked, rubbing his upper arm.

"My stupid old man." He gulped, his voice quivering. "Thought it was a training technique. He did it a lot of times." Too worked up, he didn't think anything of telling her details. Looking up at Washu, he was surprised to see that she was much older, in her mid-twenties. "Wha?"

"There are many types of shape shifting." She smiled sadly. "Age is the easiest full body type." Sliding across the floor, he settled a meter away from Washu to stare at her.

"Like what you see?" She asked throatily striking a provocative pose, completely breaking the mood he was in.

"That kind of stuff doesn't really work on me." He rolled his eyes, trying to hide that it did work on him, just not to the same amount. "Sides, I bet I could catch more eyes than you ever could." He asserted haughtily.

"Not anymore." Washu countered, summoning her laptop, and pressing a single key.

"So you ACK!" Ranma squeaked when very cold water splashed down over his head. "What did you do that for?" He yelled without thinking before finally noticing the voice. "I didn't change." He noted with amazement. Being covered in cold water, and not being female felt even stranger than the first time he did change.

"Tsk, tsk, never doubt Washu-chan." The red head chastised him, hitting another key. "Just for that."

"Meow."

Ranma froze up at the sound as a small white cat with black spots hopped into his lap to lie down and purr. There was weight to it, so it couldn't be another illusion, so he kept perfectly still lest he agitate the monstrous creature that was using him as a pillow. Washu slid over to sit next to him and pet the feline.

"I upped the realism settings for a little positive reinforcement. Don't worry, nothing you could ever do will cause this cat to do anything other than purr and rub against you." She explained.

"I－ I－ It's a－ a fake?" He stammered, still not moving anything past his neck.

"Well what is real and what is fake? Everything you experience is really nothing more than electrical signals processed by your brain. I reversed the direction of the rooms operation. Now instead of projecting your－ mindscape, it's giving you stimuli for things that don't actually exist, and your mind fills in the blank."

Uncaring for the explanation, he stared at the feline, waiting for it to attack. He could tell it would be soon, the cat's tail was swishing back and forth. It twisted it's head to look up into his face, ears twitching and rotating. Those yellow eyes stared at him, sizing him up for the attack. Ranma was so worked up, that when the cat rose to its feet, he could do nothing but tense up. Except that cat simply laid back down in a different position, oblivious to his distress.

"It's not real, remember?" Washu grabbed his left hand and was able to overpower him to make him touch the cat.

"N- n- not a cat." He repeated, feeling the fur as if it was actually there.

"If you would give me permission I can make you more－ susceptible to suggestions, only briefly, just to get you started on overcoming your phobia."

"Do whatever just get this thing off of me." He answered in a tiny voice, the cat having risen to rub against his outstretched hand.

"See, he's not going to hurt you." Washu seemed to whisper into his ear.

"He's not?" Ranma asked himself, realizing that the cat was really calm. Washu let his arm go, and he didn't immediately pull back, wondering why he was so scared of something that wasn't going to hurt him. The cat stared up at him, expecting to be petted, and Ranma hesitantly dropped his hand to touch the cat's back.

"But this isn't real." He realized. "A real cat would try and bite me."

"Why would they do that? You haven't done anything to them." Washu whispered again. "A cat isn't going to hurt you unless you did something."

"Really?"

"Really." Washu whispered again, reaching over to pet the false cat.

"I didn't know that." He tentatively stroked the cat along it's back. "This is that suggestion stuff, right?"

"Was, if your phobia wasn't caused by such a traumatic experience, I wouldn't have even considered it."

"Can't you use it to just get rid of it?" He considered how easy it would be to remove the neko-ken if she could do all this.

"No, all I did was implant a subtle suggestion and let your mind do the rest, it's a start, that's all. Think of it as me presenting an argument really well, and you having no choice but to agree. It wouldn't work for something that big. So, like training your body, you'll have to work to get over your phobia."

X x x x x x

Akane sat down with a huff at the table in the living room before dropping her book bag at her side. School was over for the day, and she wanted to relax before dinner, homework could wait till later. Last night had been difficult. It was originally supposed to be just a simple dinner so her family could get to know Nodoka as a formality for a possible future marriage. What it ended up being was Nodoka grilling them for information on Ranma.

Nabiki had taken the opportunity to make several jokes about Ranma, that she and Kasumi had to defuse when the Saotome woman actually took them seriously. It seemed like Ranma's mother was actually completely, totally, one hundred percent serious about a ridiculous seppuku pledge. That was what they were dealing with the moment Ranma himself had shown up.

Akane had no clue who that older woman had been with Ranma, but it wasn't hard to see that she had been unhappy by Nodoka's insistence of the contract, and seemed to have some vested interested in the gender changing martial artist. Ranma him, or herself at the time, had been similarly shocked by the idea. Akane had never really seen the gender cursed boy just walk out like that. She had tried to follow shortly after, but the two were simply gone, as if they had vanished.

"Hello." Nodoka appeared in the doorway to the room, silk wrapped bundle held over her shoulder.

"He- hello auntie." Akane greeted, seriously wondering about the Saotome woman. "When did you get here?"

"Your sister Kasumi just let me in. She said that you knew Midori-chan the best."

"Well－ you could say that." She gulped, cursing her sister for shoving this on to her. Worst case scenario was that the Saotome woman was quicker than the let on, and had placed some special emphasis on the similarities between herself and 'Midori'.

"I just wanted to know if you and her would like to go with me for a day on the town, just us girls, as an apology for how last night went."

"Auntie." Akane floundered for a way to answer the question. She had no way to contact Ranma, and having Ranma, someone who Nodoka demanded be manly, spend the day with 'just us girls?' Nothing could possibly go wrong. "Next time I see－ her, I'll be sure to ask, but I don't know when that will be. We don't see each other that much."

"That's too bad, I was hoping to get to know her a little better."

'I'm sure you were.' Akane smiled nervously. 'Oh crap she must know something.' Nodoka knew about Genma's curse, she must have guessed something about Midori, and was looking to dig for information. Hearing the phone out in the hall ring she excused herself to answer it, wanting to get away before saying anything that would help Nodoka get closer to the truth.

"Hello, Tendo residence." She greeted.

"Hey Akane." Ranma's male voice came over the headset.

She nearly said his name loud enough for Nodoka to hear but dropped quickly to a whisper. "Ranma, where are you?"

"Er－ well I'm not really supposed to say, but I was just here a while ago while training for that fight with Pops, if you know what I mean."

"That doesn't really help."

"Anyways, I'll be on Earth for a bit, and I was able to get－ cured."

Akane glanced towards the living room, Ranma didn't seem as enthusiastic as she thought he would. "Do you want to talk to your mom? She's here right now, she wanted to take me and 'Midori' out for the day."

"Yay." Ranma replied with enthusiasm. "And－ not really."

"I know she's weird, but she does miss you, you know that right?"

"Don't you think I know that?" Ranma snapped. "Sorry." He added after a second.

"I think I can understand. So what did you want?" She changed topics, wondering if he had been calling to talk to her.

"I don't know, it's been hard just trying to call Earth while I was off planet. Guess I just wanted to hear a familiar voice."

"So what's it like?"

"It's－ it's incredible out there. Some of the stuff is so hard to believe even when you're there."

"Like what?"

"Well－ I'm going to school on a planet, but that's just one part of the school that includes all the planets in that solar system, and around this whole solar system, is a space station that forms these two gigantic rings."

"Woah, that is hard to believe."

"That's just the beginning of it all. But－ there's a lot of things that are the same. I got this teacher at the school, you would swear he was a Kuno, cept he's got bright pink hair. I've had to bounce his head off the wall almost once a day."

Akane laughed, imagining Kuno and his sister with pink hair. "Anything else the same? You still got girls hanging off of you?"

"That'd be kind of hard, I've been living as a girl."

"You have?" Her brow furrowed, wondering what the reason was for that.

"Stupid Seto enrolled me as a girl, probably thought it was a hoot. Anyways, I should get you and one of my roommates together, I bet you and Corina would get along great."

"Roommates?" One of her eyebrows began to twitch.

"Yea I have two roommates, and they are both slobs. I'll probably get back and find the room is trashed again. It wouldn't be so bad if we had separate rooms, but all we have is this big room, with one bathroom."

"Do they know about your curse?"

"No, I haven't told them."

"Am I right that they－ change around you?"

"Well- yea, it's not like there's a whole lot of privacy."

The plastic of the headset began to crack from the force of her grip. "I'm going to hang up now." She told him slowly.

"Oh－ alright, well I gotta go anyways, Washu just yelled at me and she wants to go do some training with her. See ya." The line to Ranma clicked off just as Akane was about to shatter the phone.

X x x x x x

"What?" Ranma nearly yelled at Washu. Dressed only with a pair of white pants, he followed her out of the home, and towards the hillside. Thinking about his conversation with Akane just a moment ago, he wondered if she was upset about something. 'Eh, probably just one of her weird fantasies.'

"You wanted to do physical training, so we'll start right away." She stopped at the base of a large red torii that arched over a long set of steps.

"Climbing steps? That's it?" He rolled his eyes.

"Oh I think you'll find it very challenging." Washu pressed a few buttons that appeared on a wrist computer viewscreen. "There, I changed the damper on your strength so that you're only 90 percent limited."

"I really don't see how that's going to cause me any problems. Well, I'll be back in a minute or two." He went to take a step forward, except when he raised his right leg, it shot up and struck him in the chest with enough force to knock him on his butt.

"You know, if you don't start listening to me, I'm just not going to tell you anything." Washu's smirking face looked down at him. "I told you, instead of working to be strong, that's your at rest state. You have to train yourself to have a－ soft touch. Do I have to repeat myself?"

"No." Ranma slowly got to his feet, forcing himself to do everything with as little force as possible. This was a lot more difficult than he imagined it would be. Before he had trained himself not to put a lot of force into his movements. Now he had to be as gentle as he could be for everything.

"Don't worry, either with your prior training this will be very easy, or incredibly difficult." Washu smiled casually as he finished taking a step to finally plant his foot to start moving the other. Once again he used too much force and his leg shot up off the ground, and nearly threw him to the ground again.

"If you're going to be up in back in a minute or two, you've already wasted fifty seconds." Washu commented.

"Oh shut up." He grumbled.

X x x x x x

Four days later (2)

"Oh that feels good." Ranma slid himself further into the hot water of the bathhouse up on the hill. Having been given a muscle relaxant, he was able to remove the restraining suit, but not the silver band on his forehead, which Washu said he simply couldn't take off, and she never gave a reason. The onsen was multi-level, with small waterfalls moving between them. Like a tree ship it was designed to look like the bath area was in the middle of a forest.

In an hour Washu wanted to work on his fear of cats again, which she had been doing once a day since the body enhancement. He was loathe to admit that he was getting better around that fake cat in the simulator, and Ryo-Ohki. It made him feel even more mortified at his behavior around cats before. Other than that, he was usually doing something physical, like walking up those steps, usually followed by stacking blocks, or some random household chore. He was now holding steady at twenty percent his max.

He had also had to get used to the people who lived at the home. With Seto gone, the attention shifted to him. It was probably a good thing Noike was around, since both Ayeka and Ryoko had tempers that could easily turn violent. He had yet to meet the priest who lived up at the shrine, but he was apparently Tenchi's grandfather, and the two princesses' brother. Ranma couldn't be quite sure, the family tree around here seemed to include everyone, so he just focused on Noike being adopted by Seto, and being by extension Ayeka and Sasami's aunt.

Hearing the air reverberate off to the side, he glanced over and found a naked Ryoko appearing in midair. The cyan haired space pirate glanced over in his direction before settling down to sit crosslegged at the washing area.

"Urk." Ranma quickly looked away. "Um." Being naked as a girl around other girls was one thing, being a naked guy was another.

"If you want me to scrub your back wait till I'm done over here." She answered.

"No, it's not that." He slowly waded through the deeper center section of the pool he was in towards the exit. Being as weak as he was, he really did not want to make Ryoko angry. 'How in the world do normal people live like this?'

"Were you thinking of something more?" Ryoko purred, flashing into existence next to him in the water.

"No!" He said far too loudly, trying not to look down. "Well don't you want any privacy?" He hastily added.

"Hmm." Ryoko put a finger to her lips before vanishing from sight.

'Phew.' Ranma wiped some sweat from his forehead. His relief was short lived when Ryoko appeared with a small splash, a tray with a bottle of sake and several cups.

"Forgot that a bath isn't as nice without a drink." She smiled broadly, splashing over to wrap an arm around his shoulders and forcibly pull him to the floating tray. Finally released, Ryoko hastily poured sake into two of the cups. "Here ya go."

"Thanks, I think." He took the offered cup as Ryoko quickly downed her own and just as fast, she poured another. Ryoko didn't seem like she was going to just let him go, so he shrugged, and drank.

X x x x x x

"An you－ an－ the worse part?" Ranma slurred. "My own mum, she's gonna cut my－ my head CLEAN off less she thinks I'm manly." Glancing at Ryoko, he checked to see if she was going to talk. "You ever had that? Find out that ya got a mum, and－ suddenly it's all, do dis, do dat? Ya know?"

"Dat's nothing." Ryoko waved her right arm across her body, spilling some of her sake. "Washu keeps draggin me into her lab for all these tests. Real invasive creepy stuff too!"

"That sucks." Ranma added.

"I know right?"

"And ya know my curse－ it's gone now. I am." Ranma jerked a thumb at himself. "One hun-dred percent guy now, manly all da way." Letting his head fall back against the wooden walkway around the pool. "Still don wanna see her though." He remembered the way she had looked at 'Midori' so full of kindness, just before she had explained how she had spent all of his life waiting for the moment to judge him. Whatever he had seen must not have been there.

"Why bother? She's just an Earthling. Moms are over－ rated anyways. Ya do just fine without em."

"Dat's true. Never needed er before." Taking a deep breath, he liked the color the sky was turning as the sun set. "Never even though bout her."

With Washu working him over physically and then mentally, it was hard not to think about the neko-ken training, and that simulation room. Coming back from the brink of falling into the cat state with Washu hovering protectively over him. What he wouldn't have given to have Nodoka there when he was ten, instead of some old woman.

"Sounds like you need－ another." Ryoko sloppily poured him more sake.

"Tanks." He hiccuped before downing the sake in one gulp. "Seto said she wants to be my mum, gimme a twee ship too."

"Heh, if ya did that you'd be Ayeka's uncle."

"Dat's true isn't it?"

"There you two are." Noike stormed over to the pool from the entryway. "Dinners ready." The woman looked between them, and then down at the sake bottle. "Ryoko, he's underage."

"Mah mah, it don't matter. We didn't drink it all."

"Both of you out, get dressed, and down for dinner!" Noike commanded and Ranma sobered up quick.

X x x x x x

Ranma ate slowly, letting his body work off the alcohol. Whatever Ryoko had been shoving in his face must be strong stuff to keep him feeling drunk this long. He resolved not to let her get him drunk again.

"Ranma-san, being a guest here, it's most improper for you to have naked escapades with the resident drunkard." Ayeka berated him and he really didn't want to deal with her right now. He was already supposed to be respectful of her because she was a princess and he was just a commoner in the Jurai system. But sometimes he really just wanted to tell Ayeka to shove it.

"Oh Princess?" Ryoko challenged. "I remember a certain someone sharing a naked escapade with me."

"That was different!" Ayeka protested. "I'm sure Ranma-san is under enough stress with Washu-san. He doesn't need you tempting him with immoral behavior."

"I didn't make him do anything." Ryoko started, only to be interrupted by a loud crash outside, followed by the glass windows looking out over the lake being covered in a wave of water. "Oh, Mihoshi's back."

"Mi- Mihoshi?" Ranma asked nervously, watching the water recede.

"Washu-san, I thought you had installed an autopilot into the shuttle?" Noike asked the diminutive red head.

"Multiple times." Washu answered.

"Should we." Ranma paused in shoveling his food into his mouth with blinding speed. "Get back to work Washu?" Grabbing Washu's hand, he dragged her towards the lab, desperate to not let Mihoshi find him.

"Ranma-kun!" A bubbly unwanted voice cried happily before Ranma was crushed by a wet form hugging him. Desperately he tried to escape Mihoshi's embrace, and finding that he could barely budge her arms, let alone free himself.

"Mihoshi!" Noike dragged the bubbly blonde off of him, and he took off to hide behind Washu. "You're tracking water through the house, get changed this instant, and then mop of your mess."

"Yes Noike." Mihoshi whined pitifully.

"Is she gone?" He asked, peeking out from behind the small scientist.

"For now." Washu chuckled and patted him on the head. Pouting he tried to regain some dignity, by leaving his hiding spot.

"Don't worry, I understand." Noike nodded solemnly. "I was her partner for a time."

"The horrors you must have faced, the hardships you must have endured!" Ranma looked at the woman with short teal hair in awe. "You're so brave!" His voice quivering with emotion.

"Quit being so melodramatic." Washu bopped him on the back of the head. "But since you're so eager, let's get started."

X x x x x x

Sitting on her floating cushion in the main atrium of her lab, Washu was talking to Seto, while monitoring Ranma in the simulation room through a viewscreen. As impressive as his progress was physically, mentally he wasn't getting too far with his phobia. The little white lie that she had told him about making him susceptible to suggestion was helping. But in the end it was just her altering the sound of her voice.

"So how is Ranma doing?" Seto asked.

"Well currently he's mentally a cat and is frolicking through a nice field." She grabbed the viewscreen with Ranma and turned it towards Seto. The image really was kind of cute in a disturbing sort of way. He basically had the mentality of a kitten, and she had programmed the simulator to provide stimulus randomly so that he would tire himself out quickly.

"I do hope that you're recording that."

"Of course." She scoffed. "So how is Seina-dono doing?"

"He was put through body enhancement two days ago and is currently staying with Amane, Kiriko, and Elma. Airi tells me that they are having a lot of fun together."

"I'm sure they are." Washu giggled. "Any idea how long Seina-dono will take to become normalized?"

"Shouldn't be too long. He doesn't have the added complications and he's constantly being pressured."

"Very true, I'm reluctant to take Ranma above forty percent of his max abilities because he still has problems with Ryo-Ohki."

"And how about－ you know?"

"It's too soon to make a decision on that. Although he did have an interesting conversation with Ryoko earlier. The option remains open."

"I see." Seto tapped a wooden folding fan against her chin. "I take it he hasn't contacted his roommates then?"

"I believe he has sent a few emails but nothing with video or voice. This one roommate, Adilynn, would be interesting to meet."

"She's only a cadet and she's already helping out significantly with the computer system." Seto supplied. "I've already considered offering her a job when she completes her studies. Minaho-chan has also expressed interest in the other roommate, Corina."

"And just how did Ranma end up being the roommate of two obviously gifted cadets?" Washu smiled knowingly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. It was purely the luck of the draw." Seto unfolded her fan and held it in front of her mouth, though Washu could see that the woman was smiling.

"I'm sure." Glancing at Ranma's viewscreen, she saw that he had finally started to calm down and look for a place to nap. "I'll keep you informed of his progress."

"Have fun." Seto's line cut out.

X x x x x x

"Ooh what's this place?" Mihoshi asked while wandering around Washu's lab. She had entered with the intent to talk to Washu about her ship always crashing, but had seen the most beautiful flower in the area immediately within the lab, and had gotten lost. Trying another doorway, she found herself within a vast grassy meadow surrounded by tall trees. Bright sunlight made her raise a hand to shield her eyes briefly.

"Pretty." She commented absently before realizing that it was a projection due to the subtle ways distance was shown. "Oh Ranma-kun." She smiled, he had been so fun to be around when she had been transporting him in her shuttle that she had been looking forward to meeting him again.

"Um－ Ranma-kun, why are you walking around on all fours like that?" She asked, watching the boy circle her, his eyes were curious, but there was something very off about the boy.

"Mihoshi!" Washu's cutting voice yelled from behind her. "What are you doing here? I've given up on trying to figure out the how."

"Well I came to see you and then there was this really pretty flower, and then I found this room which is really neat by the way. I always love simulation rooms, do you think maybe you could make me one for my ship? Oh that would be so nice! I want one that can make a big beach!"

"Meow?"

"And Ranma-kun could come visit, and Tenchi-san, and Ayeka-san, and Ryoko-san. Mmmph mmmph." Mihoshi tried to say some more but Washu had covered her mouth.

"Not now." Washu hissed, glancing at Ranma worriedly who was sitting like a cat and looking at them curiously.

"Mmph?" She questioned.

"Ranma is in a very dangerous mental state at the moment." Washu whispered quickly. "Any sudden moves could set him off."

"Mew!" Ranma cried happily and tackled them to the ground.

Being freed from Washu's hand, Mihoshi was able to voice her opinion on Ranma curled up in her lap purring. "Awww."

"I suppose that's the best case scenario." Washu picked herself up.

"He's so cute like this." Mihoshi gushed and stroked her hand through Ranma's hair, causing his purr to increase. "He's just like a kitty, can I keep him?"

"Absolutely not." Washu deadpanned.

X x x x x x

Rolling to the opposite side to get his face out of the sunbeam streaming through the patio door, Ranma snuggled deeper into his futon, not wanting to get up. 'How embarrassing!' He groggily bemoaned his wretched fate at waking up from the neko-ken in Mihoshi's lap.

Predictably, everyone in the house had finally found out the reason for his fear of Ryo-Ohki, and Ryoko had been quite merciless in her teasing. He had been ready to start a fist fight over it, knowing full well that as limited as he was, Ryoko was impossibly beyond him. Noike saved him the embarrassment of having Ryoko beat him with a pinky when she was able to stop Ryoko with just words. Noike was certainly someone that he was respectful of. Maybe she was a master of some kind of verbal martial art he could learn?

Worse than Ryoko and her harsh tongue was that Mihoshi had also told the blatant lie that he was absolutely adorable when he purred and how he liked to cuddle. Waking up enough to open his eyes, he simmered at that thought. 'I do not purr.' Shifting in his blankets, he stared up at the ceiling, a scary though occurring to him.

'I hope Washu isn't recording that stuff.' He gulped, Washu would be able to hold that over his head for decades. 'No wait, it's centuries now.' Ranma still was getting used to the idea of ages in space. Since the average lifespan for someone without body enhancement was around two hundred years.

Hearing Tenchi shift in his bed, Ranma looked upwards to see the other teen rising up into a sitting position. Ranma's futon was positioned with the long side towards the patio door out to a balcony. "Morning." Ranma greeted, rubbing at his face. Tenchi always got up early in the morning before going out to till the fields. As part of his training, he had to go out, and help as well. Honestly he didn't mind the work; it was actually very relaxing in a way.

"Morning." Tenchi returned. "I'm really sorry about how Ryoko acted last night."

"Don't worry about it." He waved a hand over his head negligently, wanting everyone to forget that Ryoko had been able to get him angry. But mostly he wanted to ignore just how weak he was at the moment, and how he didn't like having to rely on others.

Tenchi nodded slowly as he slipped his legs out from underneath the covers. "Well better get started."

"Yea." Ranma agreed.

X x x x x x

Straightening up, Ranma wiped the sweat from his forehead, and sighed. 'I hate carrots.' He had placed a great deal of them in a wicker basket designed to be carried on the back, and finally he was done for the day. Nearly all of them would go to Ryo-Ohki, who would likely finish all the carrots in the field if given the chance. Slinging the basket on to his back, he started off for the home to get breakfast.

He couldn't let his guard down though, training down his strength required constant vigilance. If he wasn't controlling himself at the moment, he would be bouncing several meters in the air with each step. Or he would be thrown off balance by the swinging of his arms. Deciding to make it even harder, he began a light jog, a light jog that would be a dead sprint for any normal Earthling.

Sliding to a stop on the hard packed dirt path to the store room at the side of the house, he had a moment of trouble adjusting his strength down, before depositing his load of carrots inside. Entering into the home through the door next to the kitchen, he caught Sasami and Noike inside preparing breakfast.

"Ranma." Noike immediately narrowed her eyes at him and warning signs went off in his head.

"Yes?" He asked slowly.

"Shoes." Noike pointed a finger downwards.

"Eh hehheh." He laughed nervously and backed out of the room to kick off his filthy shoes outside.

"Go get changed and you can help set the table." Noike suggested, already moving past his slip up. He knew why she was suggesting that. It was important to do everyday activities right now to help adjust.

Quickly replacing his filthy work clothes with fresh ones, white pants and a white with green trim sleeveless shirt, he went back down to help out. That was something else he had needed to get used to. Everyone was expecting to help out around the home, the two princesses included, from what little Ranma knew of royalty he hadn't expected that. Even Ryoko, who did her level best not do anything, usually ended up helping out with her limited domestic abilities. Just not anything to do with preparing food.

"Oh ho, you're almost adjusted to that level already?" Washu commented while taking a seat. The red head seemed to be the only one exempt from physical chores, though it seemed she ended up doing various other things.

"Keh, if it was just a technique I would have had it learned in a day." He boasted. Returning to the kitchen to put the extra plates away.

"Miya?" Ryo-Ohki's innocent notice of his arrival caused a full body shiver to run up his body.

"Morning Ryo-Ohki." He nodded towards the cabbit girl.

"Ryo-chan, can you bring this out to the table?" Sasami held out a plate of food. Ryo-Ohki nodded enthusiastically and went about the assigned task. Watching the small furry girl leave, he breathed a small sigh of relief before noticing that Noike had caught it. Ignoring the teal haired female, he headed back out to sit down for breakfast.

X x x x x x

Dropping to sit on the top step, Ranma gazed out at the valley far below as the sun slowly set behind the house. He hadn't stopped moving today except for meals and Washu had thankfully allowed him to avoid dealing with cats. He finally met Tenchi's grandfather who lived up at the shrine, which came with the added surprise that he was barely older than everyone else but used a disguise field to look like an old man.

'Just don't think about how old everyone is.' He repeated and rubbed at his temples. Letting his eyes travel down the length of the steps, he found Noike slowly made her way up them. 'Must have just got back from town.' Noike and Sasami had taken a trip into town in the small blue truck they had.

"What's up?" He asked when she got close.

"Bringing Katsuhito-san his mail." She indicated a small pile of letters. "You?"

"Taking a break." He answered as Noike took a seat a respectable distance from him.

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard to adjust. Yes you need to work hard but it should be something you get use to naturally."

"Seems to be working so far." He was now at fifty percent, and having worked all day long had normalized himself.

"Nobody is going to think less of you if you don't adjust in record time."

"But they will think more of me." He grinned.

"Is that why you haven't slowed down since getting here? The most relaxed I've seen you was when Ryoko took advantage of you."

"She didn't take advantage of me." He protested and crossed his arms. "I could have left anytime I wanted."

"Well if it was consensual, you better not let Seto find out that you were sharing a drink with Ryoko like that."

"She said she wouldn't force me to marry." He hastily pointed out. Sure Ryoko was attractive, but he wasn't stupid, she was one of the most dangerous individuals on the galaxy, and was not shy about using force when angry, which was often.

"Oh, she would never force you." Noike giggled. "But mother has ways of getting what she wants."

"In that case I should tell her a definite no for adoption." Already having one mother who might just be insane, he didn't want to become subject to Seto as her child if that was true.

"That's too bad, I was looking forward to a little brother－ or sister."

"No more sister part." He pointed out.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get that－ curse?"

"You really want to know?" Ranma looked at Noike doubtfully. Most people just wanted to know what it did, not how he got it.

"Of course." Noike simply inclined her head to one side.

"Alright－ well it all started with my old man and this trip to China to train in martial arts. We traveled to a few places, nothing all that memorable, but then we came to Jusenkyo. Which looked just as average as any other place, a bunch of small pools and bamboo poles sticking up from them. My old man jumped up on to one of them and challenged me so I also went over the pools."

"There was this guide there, I guess he was trying to warn us but we didn't listen to him. I got the first hit in and Pop went into this big spring. Next thing I know he's jumping out as a giant panda and hitting me into another. That's when I got the curse." He finished.

"I don't understand how that works. You fall into some water and come out as something else?"

"It's a magical curse or something that's like magic－ maybe some really advanced technology I have no clue. But if something drowns in a spring there, then whoever falls in takes that form." Ranma explained.

"That's really morbid." Noike commented. "And that was how long ago?"

"Most of this past year." He answered and closed his eyes briefly, remembering what it was like to change bodies. This was the longest he had ever stayed in one body other than when Cologne had inflicted him with the cat's tongue pressure point. For such a long time it had been part of his life that it felt weird to know it wouldn't happen ever again.

"How did your two roommates take it when you told them?"

"Er- heh heh－ um, I didn't tell them." He admitted.

"You－ haven't－ told－ them?" Noike's silver eyes narrowed into slits.

"I was going to send them some mail explaining it." He gulped.

"Is that so?" Noike quickly brought up her own wrist computer.

"What are you doing?" He asked rapidly, holding a hand over the keyboard part so she couldn't enter in any commands.

"I was going to see if either of them were available so you could explain the situation."

"No need for that!" He said hastily, turning it off.

"Go ahead then."

"Uh." He glanced nervously down at his left wrist where a gray band of fabric marked the normal space portion of his computer. "I'll do it tomorrow."

"You better." Noike rose to her feet and lightly tapped him on the head with the mail for Yosho. "Or I'm sure we could arrange for them to visit."

"I will" he nodded, agreeing that telling them at least that he wouldn't be their roommate anymore was the right thing to do. Of course how he should go about doing that was another question.

X x x x x x

After breakfast the next morning, Ranma approached Washu for help with solving the problem of telling his former roommates about the curse. Since he wouldn't be running around all day again, he had taken a bath, and then met Washu in the main atrium of her lab. She was sitting on her midair cushion rapidly typing on her computer and motioned for him to sit down on one of the many floor based cushions while she finished something.

Washu finally spoke up after close to five minutes. "Did you need something? I thought you were taking it easy today?"

"Uh－ I kinda told Noike that I'd talk to Corina and Adilynn today. I was thinking on how I should really break the whole curse thing to them and I thought that maybe if I used some kind of disguise thing like Yosho has, it would make it easier. You seemed to be the kind of person to go to get something like that. So－ do you?"

"First off you should call him Katsuhito, just good habit. Second, I'm sure I have one lying around that you can borrow. I take it that you wanted to appear female?"

"Well yea just to start."

"Let's see what I got." Washu typed something on her computer and a round black portal appeared above her waiting hand to spit out a long thin strip of fabric. "Here you go."

"What do I do with it?" It felt like some kind of flexible metal.

"Snap it against your wrist."

Doing as instructed, the metal conformed and locked on to his wrist. "So how do I use it?"

"Push the button on the top and think of the image you want to create." Washu answered with a strange amused tone to her voice. Pressing the nearly invisible button, he tried to picture his girl form from memory. There was a tingle that ran over his skin and when it stopped he opened his eyes.

"Wow, this is just a disguise?" He asked, it actually felt completely real, and he even seemed to have lost height. As far as he could tell, he was back in his girl form. Hitting the button again, he imagined going back to male form, and he watched this time as his body seemed to morph with the same speed as Jusenkyo.

"Just give it back when you're done." Washu turned back to her computer to start back on whatever it was she was working on before.

"Thanks again." He headed out of the lab, the wooden crab over the door knocking loudly. Exiting out into the living room, he found Sasami, Mihoshi, and Ryo-Ohki watching the large viewscreen television with Ryoko up in the rafters reading some manga.

Slipping past Ryoko up the steps, he noticed that Ryo-Ohki had ducked into Washu's lab. He didn't think on it too much before heading up to the top floor locking himself in Tenchi's room to get some privacy. Since Tenchi was off with his grandfather up at the shrine he didn't think he would have to worry about Ayeka or Ryoko coming in trying to find him here.

Activating the disguise, he marveled again at how realistic it was. From the change in height to how the body felt, Washu's disguise field was perfect. Hearing soft thumps coming up the steps, he deactivated the disguise just before Ryo-Ohki in her small animal form hopped through the door.

"Hi, you looking for Tenchi?" He asked. Ryo-Ohki shook her head the negative and with a big leap landed on his shoulder. Shivering from the contact with a creature that his mind pegged as feline, he was able not to freak out. "Washu put you up to this didn't she?" The answer was a nod and he picked her up by the scruff of the neck to set her down on Tenchi's desk.

"I need to talk to some friends about something important, so just sit tight." At Ryo-Ohki's nod, he activated the disguise again, earning a curious look. "It's just a disguise." He sat down at the desk and she nodded again.

"Well here goes nothing." He didn't know if either of his roommates would be around, since he hadn't memorized their schedule. Bringing up his wrist computer, he dialed the room number.

"Hello, room twelve." Corina answered the call, sitting at the table in the room. "Oh hey Ranma, how is everything?"

"I'm good." He answered, silently thanking Washu for how good the disguise was. "Is Addy around?"

"I'm here." A sleepy Adilynn sat down at the table looking like she had just woken up.

"I wanted to tell you both something." Nervously tugging at his pigtail, this would have been much easier to do in person, but at least he was safe from any kind of violent reaction with the great distance between them. "When I get back I won't be able to be your roommate anymore."

"Eh? Are you getting a big head? Hanging out with royalty getting to you?" Corina joked.

"No, it's not that. I've been lying to you, and it's all Seto's fault for registering me as a girl. But you see, I'm really a guy." Dropping the disguise, the two girls on the opposite side of this part of the galaxy looked confused.

"You were using a disguise field this whole time?" Adilynn asked.

"No I was really a girl, but it was this curse that Washu got rid of. It made me turn into a girl if I got hit by cold water and then back with hot."

"So you were a shapeshifter and now you're not." Corina summarized.

"Yes." He nodded.

"I can live with that." Corina smiled reassuringly. "I mean, I can understand why you wouldn't want to simply blurt it out."

Ranma noticed that Adilynn sat with a pensive look on her face before speaking. "You should have told us sooner."

He bowed his head. "Sorry."

"You did see us naked." Corina added.

Bowing his head lower. "Sorry."

"Then again, you were a girl at the time, so I guess it's alright." Adilynn finally said.

"Thank you." He breathed out a sigh of relief. "And Addy, Washu said she'd be contacting you sometime."

"REALLY?" The dark haired girl was up next to her viewscreen in an instant and the one on Ranma's wrist expanded to twice it's size. "Washu-sama is going to contact me?"

"She said you were quote, interesting." At his answer Adilynn squealed girlishly and started to do a victory dance around the room.

"So when are you going to be back at the Academy?" Corina asked, avoiding attempts by the shorter female to grab her and make her dance as well.

"A couple weeks. I'm not really sure and unless I want to get a ride with－ Mihoshi." He shivered at the idea of being in a cruiser with her. "I have to wait for Seto to stop for a visit."

"Wow, the Devil Princess is your chauffer. How did you get so high up so fast?" Corina asked with an amused smirk.

Chuckling nervously, he hadn't thought of the situation like that. But Seto was sort of acting like his driver at the moment. "Just lucky I guess." He answered while scratching at the back of his head. "So what's up over there? Anything interesting going on?"

"That other Earthling, Seina, he's actually living with Kaunaq-sensei, Kiriko-sensei, and Elma-san while he's going through body enhancement adjustment. All three of which are apparently trying to get into his pants. It's not as glamorous as who you're staying with but there's even a rumor that Kaunaq-sensei's father, the owner of the clothing brand stopped by."

Ranma had of course heard of the Kaunaq clothing brand, it was one of, if not the most common brand in the galaxy. The owners of it were absurdly rich. He would miss that about having two smart roommates, simply by being around them he picked up things. Thinking on Seina's situation he had to laugh at the other Earthlings predicament.

"Everything is quiet. Just students going to class." Corina finished. "What about you? Anything interesting happening on Earth?"

"Actually, nothing really happens around here."

"Oh I get it, you're not supposed to talk about it."

"No it really isn't all that exciting here."

Corina just winked. "You don't have to say anymore. But I better go get Addy, she's dancing out in the hall. See ya."

"See ya." Ranma answered as the call cut out. Leaning back on the wooden chair, he ran a hand through his hair. "All that worry for nothing."

"Meow?" Ryo-Ohki chose that moment to hop over to his chest.

"ACK!" He flailed his arms as the chair fell over backwards. "Did you have to do that?" He asked, looking at the amused looking cabbit sitting on his chest. Ryo-Ohki just nodded.

X x x x x x

Without his former roommates hanging over his head, Ranma was able to finish off his homework with the help of Pein. Sitting in the living room with Ryo-Ohki curled up at his side, he closed up the book on galactic law, and put it back in his satchel bag. Thankfully most of it was similar to what he knew or supposed laws were on Earth, and even better it was all general information since depending on what kind of job he got he would then focus on a certain area. Picking up the memorization book that Minaho had sent to him, he probably should have started with this one, but he had needed to send in a short essay.

He wasn't the only one in the room, Ayeka, Ryoko, and Sasami were watching something on the tv. Noike was in the kitchen last he checked and Mihoshi was talking Tenchi's ear off, the Detective was giving him space since she did seem to respect his classwork time.

"Do you want some tea?" Noike asked.

Looking up from his book, the teal haired woman was placing a cup on the table in front of him. "Thanks."

"Want any help?" She asked while sitting down next to him and being sure to pet Ryo-Ohki.

"Not unless you know a way to instantly memorize everything I see and hear." He answered, bringing up the index page to see if there was a chapter titled that.

"Don't worry so much about the homework. Anything you end up doing will have on the job training just for that. As long as you make an effort at the classwork, nobody will care if you fail every assignment."

"Then why bother with it?" He had been in normal school long enough to know that teachers cared about correct answers not attempts.

"To get you started thinking like law enforcement and getting used to a routine mostly." She answered.

"I still do not see why grandmother thought it prudent for you to attend that academy." Ayeka added her opinion. "Surely Jurai's own military academy would have been a better choice."

"Why bother with any school at all? The pirates life is the best." Ryoko snickered. "Take what you want and follow no rules."

"You're deplorable." Ayeka hissed.

"It's a good thing no one listens to you." Ranma taunted Ryoko, earning a glare, and a growl from the cyan haired pirate. The information he had learned about space pirates was that they were generally only after cargo, not people. But the big time criminals had no compunction about killing innocents and Ranma would never stand to be labeled among their number. No matter if simply traveling the galaxy and doing as he pleased sounded very tempting.

"No fighting, it's nearly dinner time." Noike stepped in before he could challenge Ryoko to a spar, or possibly get Ryoko and Ayeka to get into a fight, that would be fun to watch.

"Hmmph." Ryoko vanished and a soft thump from above indicated that she had gone up into the rafters. Ayeka gave him an affirmative look that showed just how pleased she was that he had rebuked Ryoko.

The conversation shifted to something Mihoshi had done on her latest patrol and he was largely forgotten, giving him time to read. When the phone in the other room rang, Sasami left to get it. Since this seemed to be a rare event, everyone stopped talking to wait for the blue haired girl to return.

"Who was on the phone Sasami?" Ayeka was the first to ask.

"It was Grandmother, she said she would be stopping by to visit tomorrow." Sasami answered and Ryoko promptly fell off her perch to face plant on the floor. All heads turned to the sudden noise.

"Why doesn't that old hag just stay on her own end of the galaxy?" Ryoko demanded angrily, standing up, and trying to act like she had intended to fall flat on her face.

Noike chose to ignore Ryoko's comment. "When will mother be arriving?"

"She didn't give an exact time, but sometime in the morning." Sasami told her adopted aunt. "And she invited us to the Mikagami for lunch."

"No good can come of this." Ryoko spoke gravely and everyone ignored her again.

X x x x x x

The next morning, Seto contacted them at ten to say that she was now in orbit around the Earth, and would be transporting them up in an hour. Ranma was dressed in what he thought of as semi-formal attire, consisting of white pants and long sleeved shirt with a pale blue short sleeve overcoat with green borders, the bottom of which ended down to mid-thigh.

Everyone at the Masaki home had showed up to go except for Katsuhito. Ryoko had been forcibly apprehended by Washu who had the deadly space pirate tied up with some kind of flat rope and was leading her around by a leash. Ranma did not think it was a good idea to poke at Ryoko right now considering his own physical limitations. That Ryoko could be scarier than Cologne, Happosai, Taro, and all the Kunos combined didn't play into that at all.

Appearing on a grassy hillside to the far end of the interior of the Mikagami, they were high enough that it afforded a clear view to the other side. A large low table filled with food was positioned over a yellow blanket. Sitting at the table was Seto, who was lightly fanning herself, and a nervous looking Adilynn and Corina in their GP uniforms. Standing just off to the side were three attendants, ready for any order.

"Welcome everyone." Seto waved to them and rose to her feet. Ranma's roommates did the same, staring wide eyed at the assembled group.

"Grandma!" Sasami yelled and charged up to hug the woman.

"It's good to see you again Grandmother." Ayeka greeted with a bow.

"Who are your friends mother?" Noike asked.

"Ranma-kun would you do the honors?" Seto suggested.

"Um－ sure." Ranma felt attention shift to him. "This is Corina Taylor." He indicated the Seniwa native. "And this is Adilynn Doley." This time it was the more human looking girl. "They were my roommates at the Academy."

"It's nice to meet you." Both girls said together and bowed deeply at the waist. Similar sentiments were returned except for Ryoko who was still too angry to say anything.

"So what are you two doing here?" Ranma asked Seto more than anyone else, assuming that this had some ulterior motive, but not knowing what.

"Seto-sama invited us." Corina answered. "How are you supposed to say no to that?"

"Wa－ Washu-sama." Adilynn stared in reverence at the red head holding Ryoko's leash.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Doley-dono." Washu held out a hand to be shook. "I've heard a lot of impressive things about you."

The black haired girl moved her eyes to the hand and slowly put her own hand forward to take Washu's. Adilynn's mouth opened and closed repeatedly. "Th－ tha－ th－ thank you." She was finally able to say.

Washu jerked on her captive's leash. "Say hello Ryoko."

Ryoko's head turned away. "Hello."

"Good girl." Washu snickered.

Since Adilynn didn't seem to be able to move from her spot, Ranma decided to reintroduce himself to Corina who was doing a far better job of meeting such big name people. "Hi." He greeted. The height difference was less now, but she still towered over him.

"You're pretty short for a guy." Corina commented.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He pouted. "Just because everybody in space is tall doesn't mean I'm short. On Earth no one would say a thing about how tall I am." He crossed his arms irritably.

"You should prove that." Seto interjected.

"Eh?" Ranma raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure all three of you have been hard at work, surely you can take a day off to explore the planet. It would certainly be a good learning experience for Adilynn and Corina." Seto explained. Ranma stared at Seto, further confused on what the mint haired woman's angle was in all of this. Surprising everyone with a visit, throwing in his former roommates, and now suggesting that he play tour guide to them on Earth?

"I told you no good could come of this." Ryoko had been able to hop herself far enough away from Washu to whisper in his ear.

"Oh shut up or I'll tell Washu about what you said about her yesterday."

"Erk." Ryoko quickly looked over towards her mother who had heard the comment.

"I think it's a wonderful idea." Washu affirmed Seto's idea.

"Alright I agree with you." He told Ryoko and sighed.

X x x x x x

Author Notes

1 – Approximately eight months

2 - Ranma gave Airi's revisions for the Kamidake during this time.


End file.
